Cost-effective scouring of flax fibers using cellulase-free xylano-pectinolytic synergism from a bacterial isolate

Abstract Bioscouring of flax fibers was done using concurrently produced alkalo-thermotolerant cellulase-free xylano-pectinolytic enzymes. It resulted in 1.84% release of sugars, 4% weight loss, 19.46%, 8.2% increase in brightness and whiteness respectively and 5.14% decrease in yellowness of the fibers. The enzymatic pretreatment of flax fibers showed 70% reduction in consumption of scouring chemicals or 30% reduction in consumption of bleaching chemicals to obtain the same optical properties of the fibers as achieved by control fibers using conventional scouring and bleaching approach. The merging of bioscouring with chemical scouring reduced the use of environment polluting chemicals and also provided high tensile strength fabric. This is the first report showing the use of xylano-pectinolytic enzymes produced simultaneously by an isolate Bacillus pumilus in bioscouring of flax fibers and detailed analysis on the serial reduction in the consumption of scouring and bleaching chemicals in order to make the process ecofriendly and energy saver.