Bio Technological Treatment Of Cellulosic Textiles

Denim is a cotton fabric woven known for its use in blue jeans. Typical for this cotton textile is the dyed warp and the weft left white. Traditional blue denim jeans are dyed with indigo blue which adheres to the surface of the yarn [Aravin Prince Periyasamy., Innovative Denim Fabrics and Its Eco-friendly Washing Using Enzymes, Apparel views, Vol: 11, May 2011]

Conventional denim wet finishing includes besides desizing, the specific stone-washed finish to remove colour and to confer a faded, worn or aged appearance to the fabric.

To achieve the worn look of denim garments, pumice stones were used to pummel the blue jeans inside tumbling machines. During the stonewashing process, the blue denim is faded by the abrasive action of stones on the garment surface. Pumice stonewashing lead to several problems such as machine damage, difficulty in removing pumice-stone residues and excessive damage to garment [Mee-Yong Yoon, Denim Finishing with Enzymes, Dyer International 2005(11) p16-19].

Thanks to the advent of modern biotechnology, routes to cleaner technologies have become available, alternative methods for stonewashing were developed resulting in the replacement of pumice stones with enzymes.

In denim finishing enzymes have opened up new possibilities by widening the variety of finishing effects available. Biostoning was first introduced to the European industry in 1989 and an uptake by specialist denim garment manufactures of almost 100% can be noticed. It represent an example of how rapidly and completely a biotechnology-based process can transform an industry [Bryne, C. (Biotechnology in Textiles, TI Dyeing and Finishing Group Conference Nottingham, 1995]

Biostoning is an enzyme washing process in which denim is treated with cellulases in a washing machine.

The partial hydrolysis produced by cellulases, combined with mechanical action, abrades the fabric surface, releasing dye from yarn and creating a contrast in the blue colour [R. Araứjo, M. CasalL, A. Cavaco Paulo, Application of enzymes for textile fibres processing, Biocatalysis and Biotransformation, September_October 2008; 26(5): 332-349]

The shift from stone washing with pumice only to the biostoning process applied in the jeans finishing industry can be ascribed to the following factors: no disposal problems for solid pumice waste, decreased environmental impact, lower processing costs and quality of the biostone washed jeans, increased productivity because laundry machines contain more garments since no stones need to be added to the washing machine, fewer rejected jeans due to the stones damage of the denim, [(Novo Nordisk, 1997b). Critical Reviews in Biotechnology, 24(2–3):125–154 (2004)]????. Enzymes at work, http://www.novozymes.com/en/about-us/brochures/documents/enzymes_at_work.pdf]; homogeneous abrasion of the garments, less corrosive process due to mild treatment condition [Aravin Prince Periyasamy., Innovative Denim Fabrics and Its Eco-friendly Washing Using Enzymes, Apparel views, Vol: 11, May 2011], flexibility in creating and reproducing multiple fading effects meeting the costumers demands and automation of the process with computer-controlled dosing devices in case of liquid cellulase formulation [Galante YM, De Conti A, Monteverdi R. Application of Trichoderma enzymes in textile industry. In: Harman GF, Kubicek CP, editors. Trichoderma & Gliocladium—Enzymes, biological control and commercial applications. Vol. 2. London: Taylor & Francis, 1998a. pp. 311–26.]

A major drawback during Biostoning is the redeposition of the released dye onto the garments, a phenomenon known as backstaining [ Paulo, A. C., Cortez, J., & Almeida, L. (1997). The effect of cellulase treatment in textile washing process. Journal of Society of Dyers and Colorists, 113(7–8), 218–222.] [Heikinheimo, L., Buchert, J., Oinonen, A. M., & Suominen, P. (2000). Treating denim fabrics with Trichoderma reesei cellulases. Textile Research Journal, 70, 969–973.

Pedersen, G. L., Screw, G. A., Jr., & Cedroni, D. M. (1993). Biopolishing of cellulosic

fabrics. Melliand English, 74, E419–E420. A se completa cu articolul in lb germana G.L.Pederson, G.A. Screws, D.M. Cedroni “ Biopolishing cellulosic products” LIndustrie Textile, 6 /1993, p: 53

Disadvantages can include also fabric degradation and strength loss.

The degree of strength lost depends on the type of cellulase used and the processing conditions. There is a wide variety of naturally occurring cellulases. Most are multicomponent enzyme system which act synergistically to hydrolyse cellulose to smaller oligosaccharides and finally glucose []

The cellulases used in denim finishing are most fungal origin but bacterial and actinomycete cellulases have been also studied for denim application [A. Miettinen-Oinonen, Cellulases in the Textile Industry Structure, Function and Application, In J. Polaina and A.P. MacCabe (eds.), Industrial Enzymes, 51–63. 2007 Springer] According to their pH optimum, cellulases for denim washing have been classified in neutral cellulases operate in the pH range 6–8, and acid cellulases in the range of pH 4.5–6 [Videbaek, T., Fich, M. and Screws, G. (1994) The jeans effect comes into being. International Textile Bulletin – Dyeing, Printing and Finishing 40, 25–29., Klahorst, S., Kumar, A. and Mullins, M. (1994) Optimizing the use of cellulase enzymes. Textile Chemist and Colorist 26, 2.]

Acid cellulases have an aggressive action on denim, resulting in abrasion over short washing times. Characteristic for neutral cellulases is a less aggressive action on cotton and the need for longer washing times. In addition to the enzyme source, the composition of a cellulase preparation influenced denim-washing performance [ Cavaco –Paulo] Various compositions have been proposed for obtaining good denim washing effects. [Sutanu Samanta, Asitava Basu, Umesh Chandra Halder, Soumitra Kumar Sen, Characterization of Trichoderma reesei Endoglucanase II Expressed Heterologously in Pichia pastoris for Better Biofinishing and Biostoning, The Journal of Microbiology (2012) Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 518–525]

There are a number of cellulases for denim finishing available on the market, each with its own unique properties. These can be used either alone or in combination aiming to achieve the desired look.[ Heikinheimo L, Buchert J, Miettinen-Oinonen A, Suominen P. 2000. Treating denim fabrics with Trichoderma reesei cellulases. Textile Res J 70:969- 973. ]

[D. Saravanan, N.S. Vasanthi, T. Ramachandran, A review on influential behaviour of biopolishing on dyeability and certain physico-mechanical properties of cotton fabrics, Carbohydrate Polymers 76 (2009) 1–7] tipuri de celulase

Acid cellulases commercially

used in biostoning mainly originate from the fungus Trichoderma reesei. One

reason for the wide use of T. reesei cellulases is their low price

An ideal biostone washing enzyme should present high abrasive activity, prevent the redeposition of indigo caused by the high ability of cellulases protein to bind cellulose [Cavaco-Paulo A, Morgado J, Almeida L, Kilburn D. 1998. Indigo backstaining during cellulase washing. Textile Res J 68:398-401.], without significant loss fabric strength since the enzyme washing exercise a great influence on the fabric properties (thickness, lowest breaking force of thickness, due to the impact of the surface-active enzymes, which damages the yarn [M. Juciene, V. Dobilate, G. Kazlauskaite, Influence of Industrial Washing on Denim Properties, Materials Science (MEDŽIAGOTYRA). Vol. 12, No. 4. 2006]

Nowadays techniques like genetic engineering of micro-organisms to produce tailored cellulase compositions, selective screening of naturally occurring cellulase systems and protein engineering of individual enzymes to confer special features makes possible to create a new generation of cellulase products. These new enzymes products, which contain different kinds of protein molecules or molecule blends, offer improved performance features enabling to achieve desired fashion possibilities without running the risk of damaging the garment with less fabric damage [A. Liisa-Auterinen,Textil World, Dyeing, Printing, Finishing/ May/June 2006http://www.textileworld.com/Issues/2006/May-June/Dyeing_Printing_and_Finishing/White_Biotechnology_And_Modern_Textile_Processing]

[S. Li, X. Yang, S. Yang, M. Zhu, X. Wang (2012) Technology Prospecting on Enzymes: Application, Marketing and Engineering. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal. 2 (3): e201209017. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5936/csbj.201209017]. [Miettinen-Oinonen A, Suominen P. 2002. Enhanced production of Trichoderma reesei endoglucanases and use of the new cellulase preparations in producing the stonewashed effect on denim fabric. Appl Environ Microbiol 68:3956_3964] . [Alexander V. Gusakov, Tatyana N. Salanovich, Alexey I. Antonov, Boris B. Ustinov, Oleg N. Okunev, Richard Burlingame, Mark Emalfarb, Marco Baez , Arkady P. Sinitsyn, Design of highly efficient cellulase mixtures for enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Volume 97, Issue 5, pages 1028–1038, 2007]

The fading of denim to a greater degree without fabric damage

This results can be effectively achieved by using denim stonewashing enzyme like IndiAge cellulase enzymes for garment abrasion and PrimaGreen fading enzymes (PrimaGreen EcoFade LT100 for indigo dye, PrimaGreen EcoLight 1 system for sulphur dye

) to alter the color and shade of indigo- and sulphur dyed fabric [http://primagreen.dupont.com/product-solutions/for-garment-laundries]

To reveal the opportunity offers by biotechnology to develop (in developing) cleaner and more energy-efficient processes, a Life Cycle Analysis was performed to compare three washing methods used in practice: stone washing with pumice only, washing with enzymes only (‘‘biostoning’’) and washing with a combination of pumice and enzymes respectively, using neutral cellulase. The jeans finishing process comprises various steps, but in this concrete case for the LCA only three particularly steps connected to the production of stonewashed jeans, namely: stone washing, removal of the stones, and wash (clean-up of the garment) were taken into consideration. The results reveal that the biostoning procedure scores best in almost all respects [Biotechnology for Clean Industrial Products and Processes: Towards Industrial Sustainability OECD 1998, pp97-99 http://www.bio-economy.net/reports/files/oecd_biotech_for_clean_industrial_products.pdf].

For the three stonewashing methods an economic cost evaluation based on environmental regulations concerning air, water and waste was also carried out. The analysis reveals that the removal of pumice stones from the wastewater, the emissions of chloride ions and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from the water and CO2 and hydrocarbons from the air implies the highest costs. It is specified that these costs are expected to increase if potential future standards for sustainable development have to be fulfilled (satisfied). High economic costs are generated from wastewater treatment. Based on the LCA, the biostoning process is considered to be more environmentally friendly than the pumice stoning process.

[Biotechnology for Clean Industrial Products and Processes: Towards Industrial Sustainability, http://www.bio-economy.net/reports/files/oecd_biotech_for_clean_industrial_products.pdf].

http://dbtbiosafety.nic.in/guideline/OACD/Towards_Industrial_Sustainability.pdf

A SE COMPLETA

[A.M. Nielsen, Combined Denim washing Process, INTERNATIONAL DYER,

OCTOBER 2012 , 16 –18 ….. A SE COMPLETA]

[].[M. Montazer, A. S. Maryan, Influences of Different Enzymatic Treatment on Denim

Garment, Appl Biochem Biotechnol (2010) 160:2114–2128]

The price of enzymes is comparable to

cost of stones but when other savings are taken

into account, the stone-free process works

out as being less expensive (Novo Nordisk,

1997b).The following list gives the advantages

of a stone-free process: (1) fewer rejected

jeans as the stones damage the denim;

(2) less wear on laundry machines; (3) no storage

and handling of bulky stones; (4) no destoning

and no need to wash off pumice grit;

(5) more room for garments in the wash loads;

(6) no disposal problems from solid pumice

waste; (7) reduced variation in wash results

(Novo Nordisk, 1997b). Critical Reviews in Biotechnology, 24(2–3):125–154 (2004)

Due to the aforementioned benefits, nearly all jeans made today are finished by using enzymes. For the purpose of increasing the environmental and economical benefits, a new wash processing concept was developed by Novozymes, – Novozymes Denimax® Core. The new concept enables to combine the abrasion process and the preceding desizing process. The abrasion effect conferred by this process equalize the conventional one or even surpass. The environmental impact of moving from traditional enzymatic denim washing processing to the new, combined denim wash process was assessesed by LCA study.[Environmental Assessment of Combined Denim Washing Process, http://www.novozymes.com/en/sustainability/Published-LCA-studies/Pages/default.aspx]

The calculations requires by the LCA were performed taken in account one ton of denim fabric after abrasion. For the study one environmental impact indicator and one indicator of resources (freshwater) were evaluated.

The environmental impact indicator implies climate change, particularly CO2 emissions, with reference to electricity, heat and chemical saving.

The results of the study reveal that for the new, combined denim wash process no environmental problems were identified.

Thus, it was concluded that the environmental benefits of switching to the combined denim wash process can be expected to be more significant for textile laundries that drop out from pumice stone treatment. By this choice pumice stone waste and water use can be avoided. Further study regarding the quality of wastewater are required.

Biostoning is by far the most economical and environmentally friendly way to treat denim

[A.M. Nielsen, Combined Denim washing Process, INTERNATIONAL DYER,

OCTOBER 2012 , 16 –18 ….. A SE COMPLETA]

http://www.novozymes.com/en/sustainability/Published-LCA-studies/Documents/Environmental assessment of Combined

[http://www.novozymes.com/en/sustainability/Published-LCA-studies/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.novozymes.com/en/sustainability/Published-LCA-studies/Documents/Environmental%20assessment%20of%20Combined%20Denim%20Washing%20Process.pdf]

.

http:/ Waste, pollution, quality variability, and imperfections are all reduced. And unlike pumice or acid, which get used up during the wash, enzymes can be recycled.

A small dose of enzymes can replace several dozen pounds of pumice stones. So productivity can be increased by 30-50% because the space formerly taken up by the pumice stones in the washing machines can now be filled with more jeans.

And there is no need for the time-consuming and expensive task of removing stone fragments from the jeans once the wash is done.

There is also no pumice dust to endanger employee health or gritty sediment to clog drains. Nearly all jeans made today are finished by biostoning.

/www.novozymes.com/en/sustainability/Published-LCA-studies/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.slideshare.net/abiramtex/denim-washing-using-enzymes fff imp

Cellulases are hydrolytic enzymes and catalyse the breakdown of cellulose to

smaller oligosaccharides and finally glucose. Cellulase activity refers to a multicomponent

enzyme system consisting of three types of cellulases: (i) endoglucanases

(EG: 1,4-_-D-glucan glucanohydrolase; EC 3.2.1.4), ii) cellobiohydrolases (also

called exoglucanases, CBH: 1,4-_-D-glucan cellobiohydrolase; EC 3.2.1.91) and

iii) _-glucosidases (BGL: cellobiase or _-D-glucoside glucohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.21).

Endoglucanases cleave bonds along the length of the cellulose chains in the middle

of the amorphous regions, resulting in a decrease in the degree of polymerisation

(DP) of the substrate (reviewed in Teeri and Koivula, 1995; Teeri, 1997).

Cellobiohydrolases are progressive enzymes, initiating their action from the ends

of the cellulose chains. They attack the crystalline parts of the substrate, producing

primarily cellobiose, and decrease the DP of the substrate very slowly. Cellobiohydrolases

act synergistically with each other and with endoglucanases, thus

mixtures of endoglucanases and cellobiohydrolases have greater activity than the

sum of the activities of the individual enzymes acting alone. In the final cellulose

hydrolysis step _-glucosidases hydrolyse the soluble oligosaccharides and cellobiose

to glucose. Many of the fungal cellulases are modular proteins consisting of a

catalytic domain, a carbohydrate-binding module (CBM) and a connecting linker.

The role of the CBM is to mediate binding of the enzyme to the insoluble cellulose

substrate.

Controlled hydrolysis by cellulases is used in textile processing to improve the

surface properties and texture of cellulose-based fabrics. Advanced hydrolysis is not

desired since this could cause too great a loss in fabric strength and weight. Using

modern biotechnological tools different cellulase products having diverse cellulase

profiles can be produced. Furthermore, novel techniques can improve the characteristics

of enzymes, e.g. thermostability of cellulases (Voutilainen et al., 2004).

By selecting a suitable cellulase product improved performance on different

types of substrates can be achieved compared to that obtained with naturally

occurring cellulases.[Industrial Enzymes]

The new commercial products designed by genetic engineering allow the fading of denim to a greater degree enabling new fashion possibilities [ S.F. Luca, M. Bähner, C. Lieb, J. Knobloch, Melliand Textilberichte, 1999, 291 – 293, A. Liisa-Auterinen,Textil World, Dyeing, Printing, Finishing/ May/June 2006,

The efficiency of cellulase in stonewashing or biopolishing

is judged by the CMCase activities (efficiency in

hydrolysis of carboxy-methyl cellulose) of endoglucanases

and cellobiohydrolases. If the CMCase activities of purified

CBH I, CBH II, EGI, EGII of T. reesei are compared separately,

it is found that EGII is the most active, followed by

EG I, CBH II, CBH I in decreasing order (Gama et al.,

1998). The presence of cellobiohydrolases and endoglucanase

I in cellulase preparations from T. reesei make it unsuitable

for biofinishing and biostoning, as endoglucanase I and

cellobiohydrolases lead to loss of the strength and weight

of cellulosic materials (Gusakov et al., 2000). It has been

shown that the loss of strength and weight is mainly caused

by endoglucanase I (EG I), whereas improved biofinishing

and biostoning with minimum loss of weight and strength

can be achieved by using endoglucanase II (Miettinen-

Oinonen et al., 2001).

(Gusakov et al., 1998, 2000; Heikinheimo et al., 2000;

Table 1). Whilst endoglucanases are needed for good abrasion, no direct correlation

has been shown between abrasion level and any specific cellulase activity (Gusakov

et al., 2000).

(Table 1). For example, of the principle cellulases of T. reesei,

endoglucanase II has been shown to be the most effective at removing colour from

denim (Heikinheimo et al., 1998). By increasing the relative amount of endoglucanase

II in a cellulase mixture processing times can be shortened resulting in

more time- and cost-effective procedures (Miettinen-Oinonen and Suominen, 2002).

Besides cost-effective treatments processes that preserve strength properties are

essential in denim washing. Since cellulases hydrolyse cellulose the application

of cellulases in denim wash or biofinishing (see below) often results in textile

strength and weight losses. Much research has been directed to find out the

[A. Miettinen-Oinonen, Cellulases in the Textile Industry Structure, Function and Application, In J. Polaina and A.P. MacCabe (eds.), Industrial Enzymes, 51–63. 2007 Springer. ]

ModelCavaco-Paulo, A. and Gübitz, G. (2003) Catalysis and processing. In Cavaco-Paulo, A. and Gübitz, G.

(eds.) Textile processing with enzymes, Woodhead Publishing Ltd., England: 120–157.

The shift from stone washing with pumice only to the biostoning process applied in the jeans finishing industry can be ascribed to the following factors: no disposal problems for solid pumice waste, decreased environmental impact, lower processing costs and quality of the biostone washed jeans, increased productivity because laundry machines contain more garments since no stones need to be added to the washing machine, fewer rejected jeans due to the stones damage of the denim, [(Novo Nordisk, 1997b). Critical Reviews in Biotechnology, 24(2–3):125–154 (2004)]????. Enzymes at work, http://www.novozymes.com/en/about-us/brochures/documents/enzymes_at_work.pdf; homogeneous abrasion of the garments, less corrosive process due to mild treatment condition [Aravin Prince Periyasamy., Innovative Denim Fabrics and Its Eco-friendly Washing Using Enzymes, Apparel views, Vol: 11, May 2011] (6) flexibility in creating and and reproducing multiple fading effects meeting the costumers demands and automation of the process with computer-controlled dosing devices in case of liquid cellulase formulation [Galante YM, De Conti A, Monteverdi R. Application of Trichoderma enzymes in textile industry. In: Harman GF, Kubicek CP, editors. Trichoderma & Gliocladium—Enzymes, biological control and commercial applications. Vol. 2. London: Taylor & Francis, 1998a. pp. 311–26.]