25-02-2021

Desizing

*The material is being used for academic purposes only, and is intendedonly for students registered in IIT Delhi in Semester IIA, 2020-21, and is not intended for wider circulation

Pre-treatment Processes
• Desizing—Remove size
• Scouring—Hydrophobic impurities, pectins, proteins, mineral matters
• Bleaching—Natural colours, stains
• Mercerization– Not targeted for removal of impurity. Increased
absorbency, dimensional stability, lustre

General terms
• Batch Process/Exhaust Process

Fabric weight is known

Chemicals on the basis of Fabric weight
MLR (Material to liquor ratio) can be maintained

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Material-to-Liquor Ratio

• This expression refers to the weight-to-volume relationship between the fibre to

be processed and the total volume of treatment bath.
• The higher the M:L ratio, the larger is the volume of treatment liquor
• MLR (M:L)- 1:10, 1Kg fabric-----------Total liquor--??

Chemical dosages on the basis of Fabric

weight (OWF)
• Batch size (Fabric weight)- 100Kg Quantity of chemical = W*S/C
• Acid – 0.25% -----????Kg
W-Wt of Fabric
• 250gms acid–
• Pure acid (100%)---250gms S-chemical to be taken(%owf)
• Dilute acid (25%)---1Kg C-Conc. Of stock
• Dilute acid (10%)---2.5Kg
• MLR-1:10----Total Liquor---??
• Water and Total liquor—are they same?
• Density of acid 1.1—volume of acid--??
• Water=

Continuous Process
• Weight of fabric
not known
• Fabric per unit time
(speed) is known
Pad Dry Steam Wash • Liquor basis is used
• Chemicals are
taken on the basis
of g/L (gpl)

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• Chemicals to be taken
Acid- 10gpl
Total liquor of treatment– 1000Litre
Acid-????/10Kg

• How to decide final amount of chemical on fabric

Percent expression: Quantity of liquor retained by the fabric
1Kg fabric---After padding—1.8Kg (80%)
How much liquor—0.8Kg
Concentration of acid in liquor-10gpl
How much in 0.8Kg---8gm
1Kg fabric-8gms---How much %

Semi-Continuous Process

• Fabric—padded in a continuous mode

• Batched– Batch process
Pad Batch

Objectives
• Sizing ?
• Desizing ?
• Process of removal of Size from the fabric---- to facilitate the
penetration of dyes and chemicals in the subsequent wet processing
operations.
• Some natural impurities are eliminated from fibres

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General mechanisms for removal

• Solubilisation
• Emulsification
• Breakdown using chemicals

Methods of Desizing
• Can be accomplished by physical, chemical or combination of physical
and chemical mechanism
• Insoluble polymers and Starches ---converted into water soluble
compounds to ease their removal.
• Starch – converted into their simple sugars or simple water soluble
polymers.
• Synthetic sizes used for man-made fibres ---generally water soluble ---
can be easily removed
• Hydrolytic and Oxidative methods

Hydrolytic Desizing

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Rot steeping
• Grey cotton fabric ---steeped in water -- 30-40°C
• Micro-organisms develop excreting enzymes which attack the starch
• Swollen and hydrolysed starch ---partially converted into soluble state
---removed from the fabric by normal washing with water
• Limitations
low efficiency due to longer treatment time
degradation of cellulose due to cross-infections of mildew if the
fermentation process is not properly controlled

Acid desizing
• Grey cotton fabric is treated with dilute hydrochloric/sulphuric acid with a
concentration of 0.25-2% (owf )at a temperature of about 40°C for 3-4 h.
• Dilute acid attacks the polymer chain of starch and due to chain cleavage of
starch molecule short water soluble or dispersible chain segments are
formed
• Degraded starch---removed from the fabric by normal washing treatment
• Higher conc. of Acid or higher temperature of desizing---Possibility of
weakening of fabric (Cellulose degradation)
• Fabric must not be allowed to dry at all otherwise degradation of cotton will
occur at the dried area
• Alternate process: Fabric can be padded with dilute acid and wrapped in
polyethylene sheets for a reaction time at room temperature followed by
washing
• Suitable for cotton varieties containing large metal contents

Enzymatic desizing. Enzymes???

• Enzymes --organic biocatalysts highly specific both in the reaction
catalysed and their choice of reactants (substrate).
• Catalyze the rate of reaction by factors of 103 to 1016 relatives to the
rate of uncatalyzed reaction
• Physically--colloidal nature. Chemically --- protein
• Name generally ends with “ase”
• Specific to substrate
Cellulase—acts on Cellulose
Amylase—Starch
Pectinase—Pectin

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Enzyme activity

Enzymatic desizing
• Amylase enzyme ---Hydrolyze starch to dextrins, breaking them down to soluble sugars
• Commercial amylase three types- malt, pancreatic and bacterial
• Malt- contains both alpha and beta amylase (higher concentration required 3-20gpl,
optimum pH-6-7.5, Temperature-50-60°C)
• Pancreatic and bacterial contains pure alpha amylase
• Pancreatic (moderate concentration required 1-3gpl, optimum pH-6.5-7.5, Temperature-
50-60°C)
• Bacterial (Low concentration required 0.5-1gpl, optimum pH-5.5-7.5, Temperature-60-
70°C)
• α amylase- dextrinization (hydrolyze starch molecules at random and transform starch to
dextrins, breaking them down to soluble sugars)
• β amylase- saccharification (attacks straight chains, cleaves the units and produces
maltose, so that molecular chain of starch is shortened gradually---no quick hydrolysis)
• Other size ingredients namely glue, gelatin etc. being protein in nature can be hydrolysed
using proteolytic enzymes such as Gelatase, Trypsin—Generally not common in desizing

Enzymatic desizing

• Batch Process: Grey fabric can be treated with enzyme (0.5-2% owf) and
wetting agent(0.5-1%) at 50-60°C and pH 5.5-7.5 (depending on enzyme
type) for 1-2hr. Followed by hot wash and cold wash to remove the
degraded products.
• Semi-continuous Process: Grey fabric is padded with 5-10gpl enzyme and
3-5gpl wetting agent, pH 5.5-7.5 (depending on enzyme type) at 50-60°C
followed by batching the padded fabric in roll form. Fabric is wrapped in
polythene sheet to avoid drying. The fabric is batched for 8-12hrs followed
by hot and cold wash
• Continuous process: Grey fabric is padded with 5-10gpl enzyme and 3-5gpl
wetting agent, pH 5.5-7.5 (depending on enzyme type) at room
temperature followed by steaming the fabric at 95-100° C for 1-2min.
Fabric is further washed . Only thermostable amylase can be used.

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Wetting agent

• Decreases the surface tension (interfacial tension between

water and fibre) of treatment liquor
• Displaces air from micropores of cotton by water
• Helps penetration of liquor and wetting of fabric
• Some wetting agents show detergency and help in removal of
impurities from fabric
• Anionic, cationic, non-ionic, amphoteric
• Non-ionic wetting agents are recommended for enzymatic
desizing—Anionic and cationic can interact with enzymes and
affect the enzyme activity. Anionic wetting agents are alkaline
can affect protein structure of enzyme.

Other chemicals
• Sequestering agent: heavy metal ions such as copper, iron etc. may
combine with enzyme and inhibit its activity. Calcium ions help in
increasing efficiency. Ca sequestering can decrease activity.
• Salts: NaCl/KCl salts are particularly used for desize mixture by
affording heat protection to enzyme, increased stability of the
enzyme and efficiency. Calcium ions are effective in enhancing activity
for some enzymes

Role of Various chemicals

• Amylase--??? Which amylase for rapid desizing--??
• Wetting agent--?? Anionic/cationic/nonionic
• Sequestering agent--??
• Salt--??

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Advantages and Limitations

• Eco-friendly
Protein---Biodegradable,
Non-toxic to aquatic life
Safer chemical than acids and oxidizing agents
• Substrate specific- no harm to cellulose
• No mildew development
Limitations
• Highly specific to pH and temperature
• Need machines with accurate temperature controls
• Not active for all size materials. Activity of amylase is restricted to starch
• Affected by impurities

Oxidative Desizing
• Can be applicable to wide range of fabrics, the size content of which is
often not known
• Hydrolytic mainly target starch, synthetic sizes may not be removed.
• Partial bleaching also takes place during desizing
• Efficient desizing in a continuous mode can be achieved
• Degradation of starch by oxidation

Oxidation of Starch
 Formation of
aldehyde and
carboxylic
groups from
hydroxyl
groups
present in
glucose.
 This makes
the bridging–
O– linkage
susceptible to
• Oxidation-Ring opening • Oxidation-Chain Scission alkaline
scission
• No decrease in degree of • Decrease in DP  Hence in most
polymerization (DP). of the cases
• Increase in solubility alkaline pH is
• No increase in solubility maintained

Image courtesy:nptel

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Desizing using H2O2

• Grey Cotton fabric treated with a 8gpl solution of H2O2 at 90°C at near
neutral pH
• Without intermediate washing, the fabric passes into the second bath
which contains 5gpl caustic soda. reaction time (12-18mins) in a
reaction chamber
• Final wash-off at minimum temperature of 70°C
• Alternatively, the cloth may be desized by pad-steam system using 3-
5gpl H2O2 and 7-15gpl NaOH, steaming at 90-100°C for 1-5mins
• Some bleaching effect in addition to desizing
• Combined desizing-scouring can also be done

Potassium Persulphate (K2S2O8)

• Alkaline peroxycompounds ---effective desizing agent

• Persulphates are recommended for ambient temperature desizing
containing 0.5% persulphate, 0.5% tetrasodium pyrophosphate and 0.5-3%
caustic soda with 4-8 h treatment time.
• Continuous Process
3-6 gpl Sodium persulphate
8-10 gpl Caustic soda,
5-10 gpl Wetting agent
95-100°C for 1-3mins

• Suitable for desizing of fabric containing mixture of starch-PVA especially in

case of blends and polyester fabric

Limitations of Oxidative desizing

• Fibre damage
• Inability to recover and re-use water soluble sizes
• Need of precise control on process parameters
• Metals catalyse the action of oxidising agents –Can degrade cotton,
Proper precautions required
• Increased pollution load