Effects of Treating with Laccase on Properties of Dyed Cotton Fabric

A laccase (Denilite ⅡS) was used to treat different cotton fabrics dyed with 0.2 g·L-1 of vat dyes or reactive dyes. The results indicated that the laccase could remove the loosely adhering, unfixed or hydrolyzed dyes from the dyed fabric efficiently, which led to obvious improvements of color fastness. Furthermore, the wavelength of maximum absorbance of the residual solution of dyeing laccase-treated was different from that of the detergent-treated, which implied the laccase could accelerate structural changes of the adhering or hydrolyzed dyes from fabric in treating, resulting in obvious color changes of the residual solution. In addition, excessive laccase also could decolorize a few fixed reactive dyes from the dyed fabric, with a decrease of color strength and less further improvements of color fastness.