Woolen products cannot be washed in domestic washing machines due to their tendency to felt during agitation in the wet state. Currently production of machine-washable wool utilizes polluting chemicals, which greatly harm the environment. Herein, an alkaline protease (AP) from soil-derived strains was isolated, characterized, purified, and stabilized. A total of 480 protease-producing strains were screened, and strain SH244 was identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens via 16S rDNA sequencing. The alkaline protease SH244-AP was purified using ammonium sulfate precipitation and ion exchange chromatography, achieving a 51.94-fold purification with a 29.8 % yield. The enzyme exhibited optimal activity at 55 °C and pH 10, with enhanced thermal stability in the presence of Ca2+. It showed remarkable tolerance to surfactant (e.g., Tween-20, Triton-X100) and H2O2. These properties suggest potential applications in textile wet processing, such as felt-proofing of wool. By virtue of its tolerance against H2O2, some metal ions, and nonionic detergents, the isolated AP, along with H2O2, was used in a water- and energy-saving eco-friendly simultaneous bleaching and felt-proofing of wool. The alteration in the chemical structure of wool was monitored by amino acid analysis, alkali and urea-bisulfite solubility, and base combining capacity of the treated fibers. The effect of bio-treatment of wool with the aforementioned AP on its surface morphology, weight, degree of whiteness, tensile strength and elongation at break was evaluated. The study's results demonstrated that the proposed process can produce machine-washable wool without significant weight and tenacity losses.
扫码关注我们
求助内容:
应助结果提醒方式:
