Cellulase finishing of woven, cotton fabrics in jet and winch machines

Some authors have reported that as the applied agitation rate increases, th e apparent activity of the endoglucanases from Trichoderma reesei towards c otton cellulose increases more markedly than does the apparent activity of the cellobiohydrolases. This suggests that the quality of cellulase finishi ng effects on cellulosic textiles may be machine-type dependent. The presen t work using total crude, endoglucanase-rich and cellobiohydrolase-rich cel lulases from T. reesei confirmed that the final properties of woven, cotton fabrics treated under realistic processing conditions in a jet machine, we re measurably and perceivably different from those of the same fabrics, tre ated using the same processing conditions of temperature, time, pH, enzyme concentration and fabric to liquor ratio, but in a winch machine. The resul ts are interpreted in terms of the effects of agitation rate on the adsorpt ion-desorption behaviour of the T. reesei endoglucanases and cellobiohydrol ases. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.