253-258Desizing of cotton fabrics using thermophile
-amylases has been studied using Taguchi methods in terms of release of
reducing sugars from starch, absorbency, flexural rigidity and weight loss of
the desized fabrics. The effect of treatment time, pH, enzyme concentration and temperature on desizing efficiency has
been investigated to optimize the process parameters. Residual matters after
desizing are found to be at lower levels compared to that observed in acid
desized samples and this results in significant improvement in the absorbency
of the samples. The pH and amylase
concentration exhibit the dominant effects followed by the treatment time on
the desizing efficiency. 3.0 g/L acidic -amylase, 6.0 pH, 40 min treatment time and 85o C temperature are
found to result in the higher weight loss of the desized fabrics