Assessment of Flax Fibers Quality after Retting and Degumming Using Highly Efficiency Pectinase and Laccase

Abdel-Rahim, Wafaa; Gebreila, Gebreil M. M.; Madkourb, Mohamed H; Al Makishah, Naief H.; Zakaria, Mohamed; Moawad, Hassan

doi:10.21608/agro.2024.325410.1526

Assessment of Flax Fibers Quality after Retting and Degumming Using Highly Efficiency Pectinase and Laccase

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ 33 El Bohouth st.(former El-Tahrir st.), Dokki, Cairo

² National Research Center (NRC), 33 El Bohouth St. (former El-Tahrir St.), Dokki,

³ Department of environment, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, King Abdulaziz university, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

⁴ Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Egypt

10.21608/agro.2024.325410.1526

Abstract

Enzymatic retting and degumming are considered a promising replacement for traditional methods in terms of time-saving and ecology friendliness. Aiming of this study was the use of pectinase enzyme to accelerate the flax retting and reduce the use of harsh chemical in fiber bleaching with improving of fiber quality. The determination of weight loss, tensile strength, elongation, whiteness and yellowness of the fibers after treatments were evaluated. Pectinase activity in flax tissue was determined after application by immersion, soaking and spraying. The immersion of flax straw in pectinase enzyme solution after ultrasonication pretreatment was the best in enzyme activity in the tissues. Aspergillus flavus was potent in pectinase and laccase production. The pectinase and laccase enzymes were extracted from Aspergillus pulverulentus, and F23 Fusarium udum, F25. Mixture of pectinase and laccase resulted in reducing the retting completion time by 75%. The effect of four concentrations of mixed pectinase and laccase following the extra bleaching was studied in flax retting and degumming. The results showed that, the enzyme treatments reduced the retting completion time by 83.4%. The effect of the use of different chemical and physical pretreatments followed by laccase bleaching were showed that the best pretreatment of sodium hydroxide. Four concentrations of additional laccase bleaching treatment of lenin fabrics were assessed after pretreatment with NaOH 0.25%. The results showed that the whiteness and yellowness indices improved in the treatment receiving the highest laccase concentration (800 U/kg of fabrics).

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