Scouring Protein Contaminants from Raw Wool

Abstract

Single bowl experiments were used to study the effects of the conditions of scouring on the removal of nitrogenous contaminants from raw wool. The scouring effectiveness was compared with the scouring effectiveness of wool grease. For both contaminants scouring effectiveness was improved by increasing the temperature of scouring, by adding a builder (preferably alkaline), or by adding a proteolytic enzyme. The optimum concentration of builder was about 1% (w/v). Although the scouring of the nitrogenous contaminants was hardly affected by the kind of surfactant used, longer scouring times were needed. Some implications of the results for practical scouring are discussed.