Degumming of ramie bast fibers by Ca2+-activated composite enzyme

Abstract In recent years, special attention has been paid to the application of biotechnology in the textile industry. In this study, composite enzyme (contained pectatelyase/hemicellulase/laccase) was employed to degum the ramie bast successfully. Interestingly, the activities of enzymes were enhanced by promotion of Ca2+ activated remarkably. The test of degummed ramie fiber performance demonstrated that fiber fineness, breaking strength, whiteness, and residual gum of fibers have greatly improved. Further, the structure and morphous of the fibers before and after degumming was examined and analyzed. The results showed that the gum, hemicellulose, and lignin were removed effectively and treated fibers had the typical cellulose I structure suitable for direct textile and other applications. These outcomes suggested that Ca2+-activated composite enzyme could degum the gum of ramie bast effectively, which provided a method to improve the quality of ramie fibers and a theoretical basis for flax degumming technique on an environmentally-friendly basis. Keywords: ramie bast fibersdegummingCa2+ activatecomposite enzyme Acknowledgements We thank Prof. Z.F. Du, J.F. Cao (MD), and X.S. Chen (MD) of Anhui Agricultural University for providing assistance with the experiments and useful discussions.