Probiotic Technology- A Novel Approach in scouring of Textiles

Today's scouring process is chemically based and highly alkaline. Due to the unspecific nature of chemical processes, not only the impurities but also the cellulose is attacked, leading to damage in strength properties. Furthermore, current processes cause environmental problems due to high COD, BOD and TDS content in the effluents. A wide range of studies have been carried out on bio-preparation of cotton in the preceding 10-12 years. This paper deals with application of probiotic scouring on cotton and analyzing the effectiveness of probiotic scouring over conventional scouring & testing the properties of pro-scoured cotton knitted substrates. It was found that that in probiotic scouring of cotton degradation of pectic substances is one of the most essential processes. Probiotic degradation of pectic accelerates the removal of waxy materials from the cotton primary wall, thus produces highly water absorptive cotton. Using probiotics, decreases the TS, TDS, COD, BOD thereby reducing both effluent load and preparation costs. 100% bio-degradable Scouring agent, sets new standards in pre-treatment for cotton significantly