Commercial cellulase enzyme ANP-N300 is generally recommended to be used for bio-stone washing of jeans and biopolishing of cellulose fabric. In this research, ANP-N300 was used for bioscouring of greige cotton fabrics to remove pectins and waxes (on cotton) due to its high pectinase enzyme activity. Optimal scouring conditions were determined (pH, temperature, time, fabric to liquor ratio, and enzyme and wetting agent dosages). Scoured fabrics were tested for various properties according to standard test methods such as wettability, pectin content, dyeability, whiteness, weight loss, and strength of fabrics. For comparison, another commercial pectinase enzyme Scourzyme L generally used for industrial cotton scouring was also used for scouring of the same fabrics. Two optimal conditions for cotton scouring using ANP-N300 were determined as follows : ANP-N300 0.5 g/l, wetting agent 1 g/l, fabric to liquor ratio 1:50, pH 6.5, temperature either at 50 ºC for 45 minutes or 60 ºC for 10 minutes. Both ANP-N300 and Scourzyme L scouring processes showed similar scouring results in which scoured fabrics showed good wettability, higher whiteness than greige fabrics, 2-3% weight loss and acceptable low strength loss. Though fabrics scoured with ANP-N300 showed higher pectin content than fabrics scoured with Scourzyme L, scouring with ANP-N300 could sufficiently remove pectins from fabrics in which ANP-N300 scoured fabrics showed similar wettability, whiteness and color strength to Scourzyme L scoured fabrics. It can be concluded that ANP-N300 cellulase enzyme can be successfully used for cotton scouring, comparatively with scourzyme L pectinase enzyme.
