Biotechnology: One Key Driver for Green Textile Industry

Textile industry is a pillar industry in China and has great contributions to the national economics. In 2007, the output of textile industry reached to 8% of GDP in China, 14.5 % of China's total industrial export value, and 25 % of the global textile trade. Biotechnology is the key driver for the development of green textile industry. The main part of textile biotechnology includes bio-based materials production, fibre functionalization and environmental friendly processes development. Advantages of using enzymes for cotton pretreatment process and fibre functionalization could be summarized as improving product quality, introducing functional groups specifically on the surface of the fibres, requiring mild reaction conditions, not damaging to the fibres, and reducing consumption of water, chemicals and energy. In the current paper, the production of several enzymes, such as cutinase, alkaline polygalacturonate lyase, catalase, transglutaminase, and poly(vinyl alcohol)-degrading enzyme, were introduced from the view of cell construction, fermentation optimization and purification process. Catalase for bio-cleanup after cotton bleaching, alkaline pectinase and cutinase for cotton pretreatment, and transglutaminase for wool process were also discussed.