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Title: SPRAY ENZYMATIC RETTING: NEW METHOD FOR PRODUCING FLAX FIBERS

Author
item AKIN, DANNY
item DODD, ROY - CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
item PERKINS, WARREN - UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
item HENRIKSSON, GUNNAR - UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
item ERIKSSON, KARL-ERIK - UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

Submitted to: Textile Research Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/21/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The US is one of the largest consumers of flax for linen, but no flax for this purpose is produced commercially in this country and all fiber is imported. Better retting procedures are required over the current method of choice, dew-retting in the field by indigenous fungi, to develop a flax/linen industry in the US. Collaborative work at the Russell Center, the University of Georgia, and Clemson University resulted in the development of a enzymatic retting method that produced fibers of suitable quality at the laboratory level. This method, which consisted of spraying a formulation of chelators with the pectinase-rich enzyme mixtures onto crimped stems, improves the efficiency of retting and makes it usable anywhere, rather than restricted to particular climates. Commercialization of this procedure could help overcome problems that limit development of a US flax/linen industry.

Technical Abstract: The high consumption of flax for linen in the US and the fact that the US does not produce any flax/linen has prompted research into an ultimate goal of re-establishing a flax/linen industry. An improved retting method for flax stems using pectinase-rich mixtures was developed and evaluated on a variety of fiber and seed flax samples. The method, termed spray enzyme retting (SER), was as follows: crimp stems to enhance penetration of enzym formulations into the stems tissues, add chelators with enzymes in water at pH 5.0 to improve enzyme effectiveness, spray the formulation on crimped stems to soaking, and incubate at high humidity for several hours. Total fiber yield, collected from dried and bench-carded SER flax, and fiber strength and micronaire (modified to use 5 g of fiber) were determined and compared for various sample types, forms and amounts. A test of 19 samples indicated that the liquid:fiber ration (in ml/g), after subtracting excess run-off of enzyme formulation, was 1.86. Total fiber yields were about 25 to 30% of starting crimped weight of fiber flax stems and considerably higher for samples that had been previously dew-retted flax prior to SER. Micronaire values were high (about 7-8) for bench-carded samples and lower (about 4 to 5) for the finer proportion from samples cleaned through a Shirley Analyzer. Fiber strengths (Stelometer) were equal to or considerably greater than, depending on samples, dew-retted "cottonized" flax or typical cotton fibers.