Eco-friendly preparatory process for silk: Degumming by protease enzyme

Increased awareness and concerns about the environment and pollution have paved way for Eco-friendly processes in chemical processing. Conventional soap- soda boiling method of degumming silk has many disadvantages coupled with the convenience of time. The enzymatic degumming processes have been attempted earlier and are gaining importance due to less degradation of silk, ease of process control, better hand properties of silk besides being environmental friendly process. An attempt is made to apply neutral-alkaline protease enzyme SerinzymeÒ for degumming of 4-ply filature silk yarn and results are compared with the control soap-soda boil method. The degummed silk yarn is analysed for properties related to strength and weight loss. The enzymatic degummed silk yarn showed better control over the conventional process based on the dosage of enzyme and degumming loss. Tenacity and breaking force at 1% and 2% enzyme dosage was superior in comparison to the soap soda method, whiteness of the enzymatic degummed samples was satisfactory. The effluent discharge of both the processes has been analysed for pH, conductivity, chlorides and COD