Comparative study on the effect of acid and alkaline protease enzyme treatments on wool for improving handle and shrink resistance

Wool is commonly treated with alkaline protease enzyme to improve handle and shrink resistance. The limitations associated with the usage of this enzyme on wool are excessive weight and strength losses and pH sensitive enzyme activity, etc. Wool is generally stable if processed in acidic conditions rather than alkaline conditions. This study explores the possibility of using acid protease enzyme to improve handle and shrink resistance of wool. The acid protease enzyme is applied on acid and alkaline peroxide bleached wool fabrics using optimized process parameters, and the results are compared with alkaline protease enzyme treated wool fabric. The acid protease treated fabrics show 30% higher softness than alkaline protease treated fabrics with 72% and 62% lower weight and strength losses, respectively. The alkaline peroxide bleaching prior to acid protease treatment provides 100% and 67% higher whiteness and shrinkage resistance, respectively, to wool than the acid peroxide bleaching. The action of the enzymes on wool and shrink resistance and handle of the treated fabrics is characterized using SEM, FT‐IR and KES‐F method.