Enzymatic Modification of Hemp Fibres for Sustainable Production of High Quality Materials: Influence of Processing Parameters

The Third International Conference on Textile Biotechnology took place in Graz (Austria) from June 13-16, 2004. This conference provided a thorough overview of current and future focuses of biotechnology, enzymology and microbiology in the textile industry. It stimulated discussions between experts from universities, research organizations and industry worldwide.

Beside other presentation there was an oral presentation focused on hemp fibres:

“Enzymatic Modification of Hemp Fibres for Sustainable Production of High Quality Materials: Influence of Processing Parameters” by H. Fischer, J. Müssig, C. Bluhm (Faserinstitut Bremen e.V. — FIBRE —), Germany

Abstract
Main focus of this paper is the influence of processing parameters in enzymatic hemp separation on the fibre quality. The influence of NaOH-, EDTA- and Soda-pre-treatment, and enzymatic treatment with Lyvelin® was determined. The results show, that processing parameters from e.g. flax treatment can not easily be transferred to hemp, since there is a different pectin structure. NaOH treatment with low concentrations has only a very limited effect on fibre quality. In opposite to results known from flax, EDTA treatment has no effect on hemp separation. More successfully is fibre pre-treatment by soda even in low concentrations. In addition the soda pre-treatment improves the efficiency of the subsequent enzymatic step.

Financial support by the BMBF (project no. 0312640C) is gratefully acknowledged. The authors wish to express their thanks to Mrs. Dinara Abdulajeva, Mrs. Hannelore Gerardi, Mrs. Gundula Meyer and Mrs. Tanja Slootmaker (FIBRE, Germany) for their support in the fibre quality measurements.