This document is a seminar report on the topic of "Enzyme biotechnology for sustainable textiles". It discusses how enzymes are used in various textile processes like scouring, bleaching, desizing, and biopolishing to make them more sustainable by reducing water, energy and chemical usage. It provides examples of how specific enzymes allow certain processes to be combined, like bleach clean-up and dyeing in the same bath. The report concludes that using enzymes in textile production can significantly lower its environmental impact and carbon footprint.

1. Seminar Report On
“Enzyme biotechnology for sustainable textiles”
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the
Requirements for the award of the degree of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
in
TEXTILE CHEMISTRY
Submitted By
Vijay Prakash
(1704460060)
Textile Chemistry
Under the Guidance of
Pro. ALKA ALI
Professor & Head (Examination)
UPTTI (formerly GCTI)
Souterganj, Kanpur - 208001
(State-UP) INDIA
Submitted to:
DEPARTMENT OF TEXTILE CHEMISTRY
Uttar Pradesh Textile Technology Institute, Kanpur
24 July 2021

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………………………...……. I
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................... II
INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................. III
Types of waterproof breathable fabric:..............................................................................................IV
DENSELY WOVEN FABRIC ............................................................................................................ V
MEMBRANES ..................................................................................................................................VI
MICROPORAS MEMBRANE ..........................................................................................................VII
LAMINATE OF MERMBRANE AND OUTER FABRIC .......................................................................1
COATING..........................................................................................................................................4
VARIOUS COMMERCIAL WATER BREATHABLE FABRIC……………………………………………18
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: .......................................................................................................38
CONCLUSION: ...............................................................................................................................81
REFRENCES: .................................................................................................................................82

3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Present inspiration and motivation have always played a key role in the success of
any venture.
I offer my profound gratitude to the management of UPTTI, Kanpur. For giving
me the opportunity to do prepare the project report. I express my sincere thanks to
Dr. G. Nalankilli, Director of Uttar Pradesh Textile Technology Institute,
Kanpur.
I pay my deep senseof gratitude to Pro. ALKA ALI, UPTTIKanpur to encourage
me to the highest peak and to provide me the opportunity to prepare the project.
I feel to acknowledge my indebtedness and deep sense of gratitude to Respected
ALKA ALI whose valuable guidance and kind supervision given to me throughout
the course which shaped the present work as its show. I am immensely obliged to
my friends for their elevating inspiration, encouraging guidance and kind
supervision in the completion of my project.
Last, but not least, My Parents are also an important inspiration for me. So, with
due regards. I express my gratitude to them.
Vijay Prakash
Textile Chemistry
Uttar PradeshTextile Technology
Institute Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh

4. ABSTRACT
Enzymes are used in a broad range of processes in the textile industry: scouring,
bleach clean-up, desizing, denim abrasion and polishing. Enzymes are specifi c and
fast in action and small amounts of enzyme often save large amounts of raw
materials, chemicals, energy and/or water. This chapter describes enzyme use in the
textile industry in the context of sustainable production and reports life cycle
assessments (LCAs)on two enzyme applications: bioscouring and enzymatic bleach
clean-up. The results show that resource use and impact on the environment can be
reduced considerably when enzymes are implemented in the two processes.

5. Introduction:
In many industries, enzymes are used as biological catalysts to replace harsh
chemicals or perform reactions under milder conditions. The textile industry is no
exception. Not only do enzymes make good economic sense by saving energy, water
and chemicals or byimproving quality, they also give valuable environmental benefi
ts. These benefi ts are becoming more and more important at a time of increasing
awareness about sustainable development and climate change. Novozymes recently
performed two life cycle assessment (LCA) studies at textile mills in China, one of
the prime producing countries for cotton and textiles. One of the studies was of a
process known as bioscouring for removing impurities from cotton yarn.
This is an alternative to traditional scouring that involves a number of high-
temperature steps with a large consumption of chemicals. The other process is
known as bleach clean-up to remove excessive bleaching agent prior to dyeing. This
enzymatic process required less water and less energy than the conventional process
used in China.
On the basis of a qualitative assessment, it might seem obvious to assume that
enzymes contribute to sustainable development. But what are the hard facts about
the environmental impact of the use ofenzymes in the textile industry? It should not
be forgotten that the production of enzymes is also associated with environmental
burdens (Nielsen et al., 2007). The purpose of the LCA studies presented here is to
assess and compare the environmental burdens created by enzyme production and
distribution in comparison with the environmental burdens avoided in the processes
at textile mills. Here are two concrete examples from China based on the specific
conditions at two mills. It could be argued that these facts only apply to the two
specific mills. Therefore sensitivity analyses have been performed to look at a
variety of scenarios, such as the use of fuels other than coal to generate electricity or
the use of further optimised processes. In all cases, enzymes gave clear
environmental benefi ts and helped to reduce contributions to global warming.
Enzymes have been used increasingly in the textile industry since the late 1980s.
Many of the enzymes developed in the last 20 years are able to replace chemicals
used by mills. The fi rst major breakthrough was when enzymes were introduced for
stonewashing jeans in 1987. Within a few years, the majority of denim fi nishing
laundries had switched from pumice stones to enzymes. More than one billion pairs
of denim jeans require some form of pre-wash treatment every year. A brief
summary ofthe main commercial applications is given below as well as future trends
at the end of the chapter.

6. Enzyme applications in textile processing
Some of the important commercial applications of enzymes are reviewed
here with special emphasis on their environmental performance.
Biopolishing
Cottonand other natural fabrics based oncellulose can beimproved byan enzymatic
treatment known as biopolishing. As the name suggests, the treatment gives the
fabric a smoother and glossier appearance. Cellulases hydrolyse the microfibrils
(hairs orfuzz) protruding from the surface of the yarn. A ball of fuzz is called a ‘pill’
and these pills can present a serious quality problem since they result in an
unattractive knotty fabric appearance. After biopolishing, fabric shows a much lower
pilling tendency. The other benefits of removing fuzz are a softer and smoother
handle, and better colour brightness. An alternative way to carry out polishing is by
singeing with a gas flame and therefore the use of enzymes saves gas and emissions
from the combustion process.
Desizing
In the case of fabrics made from cottonor blends of cotton and synthetic fibres, the
warp (longitudinal) threads are coated with an adhesive substance known as a size.
This is to prevent the threads breaking during weaving because these threads are
stretched across the loom and are subject to large amounts of wear. The most
commonsize is starchorstarch derivatives. After weaving, the size must beremoved
again in order to prepare the fabric for finishing.
The desizing process may be carried out by treating the fabric with chemicals such
as acids, bases or oxidising agents. However, starch-splitting enzymes (amylases)
have been preferred formany decades. As aresult of their high effi ciency and specifi
c action, amylases bring about complete removal of the size without any harmful
effects on the fabric. Desizing can also be done at different pH values and
temperatures to suit the specific processing equipment being used by textile mills.
The latest amylases to be developed allow desizing to take place over a broaderpH
range (pH 5–10).
This gives far greater flexibility for textile mills; traditional amylases work in a pH
range of 5–7.

7. Bioscouring
Scouring is a cleaning process that removes pectins and thereby assists with the
removal of impurities such as waxes, mineral salts, etc. from cotton yarns and fabric
before dyeing. Traditionally, scouring involves a number of high-temperature steps
with a large consumption of chemicals suchas sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate
and hydrogen peroxide. Enzymes provide a biological alternative with high specifi
city towards diffi cultto- remove pectin compounds onthe raw cotton. The problem
with chemicals is that they do not just remove the impurities, but they attack the
cellulose too, resulting in weight losses. Enzymes enable a faster and gentler
scouring process with lower energy and chemical consumption. This enzymatic
process is known as bioscouring and was fi rst launched in 1999. Bleach clean-up
and bioscouring are the subject of in-depth environmental assessments in the
following sections.
Lower waterconsumption
It is estimated that it currently takes 100 kg or litres of water to process 1 kg of
textiles. The more water used, the more wastewater is generated for treatment. A
recent trend is to reduce the liquor ratio in each bath from 10 litres for every 1 kg of
textiles to just 4 litres/kg in many cases. In addition, the number of separate baths
required to process textiles has been reduced by 10–20% depending on the process.
So, for example, instead of using 15 separate baths, only 12 or 13 are now required
to process textiles.
Enzymes are seen to have a vital role in reducing water consumption and pollution.
As the bleach clean-up casestudy shows, savings in water of 20 m3/tonne yarn were
made when using 1 kg of enzyme compared with the conventional method ofrinsing
to remove the hydrogen peroxide. The case study with bioscouring shows that a
small dose of 10 kg of enzyme can save 20 m3 of water/tonne yarn.
Reducedcarbon footprint
Textile productionis responsible for considerable CO2 emissions, not only from the
energy used in the industry itself but also from energy used for the production and
delivery of raw materials (cotton, wool, etc.), chemicals and water. Enzymes of
various types are able to save raw materials, replace chemicals and save water and
energy throughout the production chain, and thereby help to reduce the carbon
footprint of textiles.
Future trends and applications

8. In future, the combining of different enzymatic processesin the same bath will
help to save more water and streamline processing to save time and ultimately
costs. Someexamples are given here.
Combined bleachclean-up and dyeing
Already the use of a catalase enzyme for bleach clean-up allows mills to reduce at
least one process step byadding the catalase to the dyebath, thereby allowing the
removal of hydrogen peroxide to take place in the same bath as dyeing. The
hydrogen peroxide is fi rst removed in a quick 5–10 minute step followed by
dyeing in the same bath. This is made possible by the fact that the catalase only
targets the hydrogen peroxide as a substrate to neutralise. It does not target the
dyes and these are therefore unaffected.
Environmental assessmentofthe enzymatic scouring of packagecottonyarn
for dark-shade dyeing as an alternative to conventionalchemical scouring
The assessmenttook place at the Rongxin Fibre Co. Ltd yarn dyeing mill located in
Haining industrial park, 90 km from Shanghai in the Zhejiang province of eastern
China. Here conventional scouring was replaced by enzymatic scouring with
Scourzyme® 301 L in 2007 and enzymatic scouring is now running in full-scale
production.
Scope of the study
Scouring is relevant for both package and hank yarns and for woven and knitted
fabrics, but the present study focuses onpackage yarn (see Fig. 5.2). Yarns intended
for light-coloured fabrics must bebleached prior to dyeing to remove residual cotton
seeds and other impurities that can cause unsightly blemishes in the fabric if not
removed. Bleaching and scouring are often,

9. performed in a combined scouring and bleaching process where suffi cient alkali
and oxidant is added to avoid a two-step process. Yarns intended for fabrics with a
dark shade do not require the bleaching process and therefore scouring on its own
is sufficient.
Light-colour yarns where pre-bleaching is required constitute about 80% of the
market and dark shades constitute about 20%. The study addresses the 20% part of
the market becausethe potential of bioscouring is largest for this productgroup. The
reason for this is that pectate lyase does not remove seeds and other seed fragments,
which is a problem when dyeing in lighter shades unless a natural look is preferred.
Conventional scouring and bioscouring can be performed on the same production
line with the same production equipment. Therefore there is no significant capital
investment associated with a switch between the two scouring methods.
The studyrefers to productionat a full-scale commercial yarn dyeing line at Rongxin
yarn dyeing factory with an output of 50 000 kg of dyed yarn per day. Chemicals are
delivered mainly by local producers. Water used in production is extracted from a
nearby river and treated by means of fi ltration and softening. Steam is supplied by
the coal-fi red Haining Dong Shan combined heat and power plant located about 1
km from the factory, and electricity is obtained from the national grid. Heat is not
recovered in the textile mill. Wastewater generated in the process is initially treated
on site and then fed to a central treatment plant before it is fed into a nearby river.
Processdescriptions
Scouring is performed in a bath where a liquor of water and chemicals/ enzymes is
pumped through the yarn. The liquor is heated with steam to an appropriate
temperature, and pumped through the yarn with an electric pump. Water and
chemicals/enzymes are mixed with each other in a separate tank next to the yarn
bath. Conventional scouring was performed in three steps: a scouring process
followed by two rinsing processes (see Fig. 5.3). The scouring process was
performed at 100 ºC with penetration agent, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and
hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The penetration agent is a surfactant that facilitated the
water’s entry into the yarn. Sodium hydroxide removed the unwanted impurities and
hydrogen peroxide bleaches the yarn. Sodium hydroxide is not selective in the
substrates that it attacks. In addition to the unwanted impurities, it also degrades
other substances in the yarn, including the cellulose.

10. Combined dyeing and biopolishing:
In April 2008, Novozymes launched a new formulated product called Cellusoft
Combi that allows mills to carry out combined biopolishing (see Section 5.2) and
dyeing in the same bath. Traditionally, biopolishing is an additional process and this
adds extra processing costs to a standard dyeing process. In traditional cases, the
biopolishing process will be carried out before or after dyeing. This typically adds
90–120 minutes to the complete process. With Cellusoft Combi, this entire process
is eliminated by carrying out the biopolishing process in the dyebath itself. Simply
adjust the pH for dyeing after bleaching, add the Cellusoft Combi and continue
dyeing.
Carrying out biopolishing with Cellusoft Combi in the same bath as dyeing means
savings in water, energy and process time.
Combined bioscouring and biopolishing:
A similar concept is to combine the bioscouring and biopolishing processes in the
same bath prior to dyeing. Here Scourzyme L and Cellusoft CR from Novozymes
are added together at the start of the process. This is made possible by the fact that
both these products have overlapping temperature and pH profi les. Once again, this
saves process time, water, effl uents and energy. There is also a synergistic effect
when combining these two products resulting in even better biopolishing and
bioscouring effects than if these products were used separately.
Combined desizing and bioscouring:

11. Novozymes has launched the conceptofCDB (combined desizing and bioscouring).
This allows the enzymatic scouring and desizing of fabric to be performed in one
step. Traditionally, desizing is carried out as a separate step where an amylase is
applied to the fabric by means of pad batch or exhaust. In most cases woven fabrics
that need to be desized are treated by means of one of the so-called pad batch
methods where the fabric is allowed to dwell for several hours. Alternatively this is
done on a continuous basis at high temperatures. With Scourzyme L and Aquazym
SD-L, it is now possible to carry out desizing and bioscouring in one step. The pH
and temperature profiles for these two products overlap and this allows for
combining the processes of desizing and bioscouring in pad batch conditions.
The combination of these enzymes allows mills to omit the conventional strong
alkaline scouring process. Instead ofhaving a traditional three-step process (desize–
scour–bleach), it is possibleto reduce this to a two-step process (CDB–bleach). This
saves large amounts of energy, water and effluent while increasing production
capacity.
RESULTS:
The results of the environmental impact assessment are shown in Fig. 5.6. Figure
5.6 shows that resourceconsumption and environmental impacts induced byenzyme
production generally are very small compared with the savings. The reason is that a
small amount of enzyme saves large amounts of chemicals, energy and water in the
scouring process. Transport of the enzyme from Denmark to China does not add
signifi cantly to the environmental impact of Scourzyme 301 L even though the
transportation distance is rather long. The explanation is that the quantity of enzyme
used is small and that ocean freight is energy efficient.
The main factors behind the saved contributions to global warming are shownin Fig.
5.7, which demonstrates that the heat saving in the bioscouring process is the main
factor behind the reduced contribution to global warming, followed by electricity
and yarn savings. Savings of water and chemicals in the process and the transport of
chemicals from the manufacturers to Rongxin are less important. Reduced water
consumption in the scouring process explains most of the water savings in Fig. 5.6.
Water savings resulting from the reduced consumption of chemicals and yarn
(primarily from the irrigation of cotton fi elds) are of minor importance. The saving
of agricultural land observed can be entirely explained by the reduced cotton
production needed as a result of the use of enzymatic scouring.

12. CONCLUSION
There is a huge potential to reduce energy costs in the pre-treatment processes in a
textile mill. Forexample, the process ofbleaching needs to be addressed in future in
order to reduce energy costs and enhance the quality of bleached fabric. Enzymes
could provide the answer. It should be mentioned that the vast majority of enzyme
applications today are used for the treatment of cotton. The textile industry is also
looking for new ways to deal with current problems onfi bres other than cotton. This
includes finding ways to improve the quality of the so-called bast fi bres (hemp,
linen, etc.), wool and even synthetic fibres. The search is on for industrial enzymes
that are commercially viable for use on these substrates. There is also a need to fi nd
alternative ways of dealing with an array of different sizing agents other than starch.
Enzymes could even be used in future to break down dyestuffs in the effl uents from
dyehouses and denim fi nishing laundries. Dyestuffs remain one of the most diffi
cult substances to remove at an effl uent treatment plant. With all these opportunities
and the need to move towards sustainable development, industrial enzymes could
provide some of the solutions the textile industry is looking for in the future.

13. REFERENCES
 ahuja sk, ferreira gm and moreira ar (2004), ‘Utilization of enzymes for
environmental applications’. Critical Reviews in Biotechnology, 24 (2–3),
125–154. aly as, moustafa ab and hebeish a (2004), ‘Bio-technological
treatment of cellulosic textiles’. Journal of Cleaner Production, 12 (7), 697–
705.
 BIOTIMES (1997). The end of the stone age. www.biotimes.com. chen j,
wang q, hua z and du g (2006), ‘Researchand application of biotechnology in
textile industries in China’. Enzyme and Microbial Technology, 40, 1651–
1655. ecoinvent (2005), The life cycle inventory database. Version 1.2. Swiss
Centre for Life Cycle Inventories. www.ecoinvent.com.
 ekvall t and weidema bp (2004), ‘System boundaries and input data in
consequential life cycle inventory analysis’. International Journal of LCA, 9
(3), 161–171.
 KIRK-OTHMER ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY
(2004), Enzyme Applications, Industrial. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. laursen se,
hansen j, knudsen hh, wenzel h, larsen hf and kristensen fm (2006),
 UMIPTEX – Environmental assessment of textiles. Danish Environmental
Protection Agency, Working Report no. 4 (In Danish). nielsen ph, oxenbøll
km and wenzel h (2007), ‘Cradle-to-gate environmental
 assessment of enzyme products produced in Denmark by Novozymes A/S’.
International Journal of LCA, 12 (6), 432–438.
 proecd (1998), ‘Evaluating the cleanliness of biotechnological industrial
products and processes’. In Biotechnology for Clean Industrial Products and
Processes – Towards Industrial Sustainability. OECD, Paris.
 Encyclopaedias. The industrial production of enzymes and the use of
 enzymes in a broad range of industrial processes (including textiles) are
 described in the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology
 (2004) and in Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry (2003).
 • Research papers. Environmental studies of biotechnology and enzymes
 used in the textile industry have only received limited attention in the
 scientifi c literature. Some examples are, however, highlighted here:
 Ahuja et al. (2004) who reviewed the utilisation of enzymes from an
 environmental point of view; Aly et al. (2004) who studied the
biotechnological
 treatment of cellulosic textiles; Chen et al. (2006) who studied
 the application of biotechnology in the Chinese textile industry; and
 Vankar et al. (2006) who studied the enzymatic dyeing of cotton and
 silk fabrics.