Development of a novel roving-treatment process employing sequential chelating agent and enzymatic stages, utilising thermal analysis for assessment of fibre and yarn quality

Despite the potential benefits of utilising enzyme-based treatments to remove specific non-cellulosic polysaccharide components from flax fibre prior to spinning, attempts to date have not proved successful. At present, techniques employing conventional chemical reagents are solely employed within this industry. To establish the feasibility of incorporating an enzyme treatment stage within a novel process sequence, small-scale laboratory test protocols have been developed and employed to screen the performance of a range of commercial enzyme formulations on commercial dew-retted flax rovings. Thermal analysis and physical testing permitted rapid assessment and the best-performing treatment sequences, based on Pectinex AR and Pentopan 500 BG, respectively (Novozymes A/S, Bagsvaerd, Denmark) were then successfully scaled-up for industrial spinning trials. The results of these trials have shown that treatment with a chelating agent followed by pectinase and peroxide bleaching processes is capable of producing good quality yarn. The compositional and structural changes occurring in the fibre at each stage of treatment were detected using derivative thermogravimetry, and revealed quantitative changes in weight loss, decomposition temperature and peak widths in response to process steps. Assessment of chemical and physical performance data for the yarns obtained indicates that such a process may have commercial applications, supplementing the repertoire of traditional techniques and reagents available to the industry.