Abstract
e Natural Fibre Company process raw wool into natural fibre materials utilising several processing steps. During the manufacturing, intermittent difficulties downstream of the scouring process of raw wool were encountered. Critically, the formation of an unknown paste- like grease deposit - which lead to downstream complications. To characterise the unknown by- product, the chemical composition of different raw wool lanolin extracts routinely employed in the manufacture of fibres were compared against a sample of the unknown grease deposit using high-temperature gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Major components of the unknown grease were putatively identified as psi-cholesterol, pentadecenol, palmitic and oleic acid, and a homologous series with mass spectra consistent with glycol ethers. The identification of chemicals predominantly with high interfacial properties was indicative of a potential issue with the surfactants used in the scouring process. the high inorganic content could indicate the presence of potassium salts derived from the suint, warranting further investigation of the inorganic fraction using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy or mass spectrometry.
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