5 - Enzyme biotechnology for sustainable textiles

Abstract

Enzymes are used in a broad range of processes in the textile industry: scouring, bleach clean-up, desizing, denim abrasion and polishing. Enzymes are specific and fast in action and small amounts of enzyme often save large amounts of raw materials, chemicals, energy and/or water. This chapter describes enzyme use in the textile industry in the context of sustainable production and reports life cycle assessments (LCAs) on two enzyme applications: bioscouring and enzymatic bleach clean-up. The results show that resource use and impact on the environment can be reduced considerably when enzymes are implemented in the two processes.