SCOURING OF SYNTHETICS

Polyester Nylon Acrylic Polyester-

Cotton Blend Polyester- Wool Blend Polyester- Viscose Blend

What is Scouring and why is it done?

Scouring is a process in which the fabric is treated with a mild alkali at high temperatures for one to two hours to remove the natural and added impurities which increases the absorbency of the fabric by 90%-95% to give good whiteness.

Scouring of synthetics is relatively simple since the fibres contain fewer impurities, most of which have at least some degree of water solubility, the most important being sizes and lubricants.

The major sizes used arePolyvinyl Alcohol Carboxymethylcellulose Polyacrylic acid

All of the above sizes are completely or partially water soluble.

Scouring of Polyester
Liquor content1-2 g/l detergent Non-ionic surfactant (if needed) 2 g/l soda ash Soil suspending agent like sodium tripolyphosphate (in case of heavily soiled goods) For light weight material in the rope form or unset filament form, the temperature should be below 60c For other material, scouring may be done at boil for 20-30 minutes or 4 to 5 ends in a jigger.

Scouring of Nylon
Synthetic non-ionic detergents are used along with mild alkali. Soft water should be used to minimize retention of heavy metals by carboxyl group of nylons. For heat set fabric temperature range is 75-80C For unset fabric temperature is 95-100C.

Liquor content for batch and continuous process are shown in the table:

Scouring chemicals Non-ionic detergent(g/L) Anionic detergent(g/L) Soda ash Sodium pyrophosphate (g/L) Temperature Time (min.)

Batch process 2-3

Continuous process

2-3

1-2 1-3 70C 20-30

1-2 3-6
90C 10-20

Scouring of Acrylics

Before scouring high bulk fibres on cones are relaxed in saturated steam at about 100c for 20 mins. Liquor content: 1-2 g/L non ionic detergent 1 g/L trisodium phosphate at boil for 30 mins. 1 mL/L solvent based detergent to remove oils and greases After scouring bath is cooled at 60c and rinsed to remove detergents.

Scouring of Polyester- Cotton Blend

In P/C blends mild conditions of alkalinity and temperature are maintained to avoid deterimental effects on polyester. Different liquor contents and conditons for different machines are:

Equipment
Jigger

Jigger

Liquor contents and conditions Caustic soda (3%) at 70c or at 100c for 15 min soda ash (5-10 g/L),detergent(2-5 g/L) at boil OR NaOH (2-5 g/L), detergent(2-5 g/L) at 75 c NaOH(1-2 g/L) or sodium carbonate(2-5 g/L) at 75 c Soda ash (5-10 g/L) and detergent (2-5 g/L)

Winch

Pad steam

 Other scouring agents which can be used are: Trisodium phosphate Emulsifiable scouring agents

Scouring of Polyester- Wool Blend

Liquor content 0.5-1% non-ionic alkyl phenol polyglycol ether type detergent 0.2-0.4 g/l soda ash at pH 8 to 9 Synthetic detergent solution at pH 5 to 6 can be used to minimize degradation. Scouring is carried out in a Dolly washing machine. Wool rich fabrics are in rope form and polyester rich fabrics are in open width form. In both cases, the time for scouring is 20-30 minutes and the temperature is 40-50c.

Dolly washing machine

Scouring of Polyester- Viscose Blend

Scouring process is almost same as that of polyester. Liquor content1-2 g/l detergent Non-ionic surfactant (if needed) 2 g/l soda ash Soil suspending agent like sodium tripolyphosphate (in case of heavily soiled goods)

For light weight material in the rope form or unset filament form, the temperature should be below 50c

For other material, scouring may be done at boil for 20-30 minutes or 5 to 6 ends in a jigger.

Modern methods of scouring

Solar Oven A simple "hot box" solar collector, was modified into a cylindrical circular trough solar concentrator for ease of fabric loading and uniform year-round heating. Combined scouring and bleaching of blends by a pad-batch method was done using sodium chlorite.

ADVANTAGES

Renewable source of energy i.e. solar energy is used. Hence eco- friendly. Cost effective as renewable resource is used and bleaching and scouring is done together. Efficiency as high as convention methods.

LIMITATIONSCan be used only in those locations where sunlight is present through out the year. Set up cost is high.

Comparison between Cotton and Synthetic scouring

Liquor for scouring cotton has a slightly higher concentration of alkali than that used for synthetics. Time for scouring is more in case of cotton (8-24 hours) as there are more impurities in cotton than synthetics (10-90 minutes). Scouring of cotton done at boiling conditions where as that of synthetics done in hot conditions.