SCOURING

After the fabric is desized it still contains certain fats and oil and other impurities, which are
mainly hydrophobic in nature and reduce the absorbency of the fabric and cause problem in
subsequent processes.

This process of removing off the hydrophobic impurities from a desized fabric is known as
scouring. Circulating a boiling mixture of alkali through it at a high temperature carries this out.

A series of reaction takes place in the fabric.

These are: -

1) NaOH converts all all the saponifiable oils into soluble soap and soluble glycerine.

2) Proteins are all degraded into soluble amino acid

3) All types of mineral matters is dissolved

4) All dust dirt particles are removed by the detergents

5) Waxes are emulsified by the soluble soaps.

Chemicals Used For Scouring Process

1) Alkali like NaOH

2) Wetting agent like soluble soap

3) Sequestering agent which help in keeping metal ions away

4) pH stabilizer like soda ash

5) Reducing agent

The main actions, which take place during scouring, are

1) Saponification

2) Emulsification

3) Detergency

Saponification: -This is a process of conversion of insoluble and water immiscible oil into water-
soluble product. The oil present in the size are all water insoluble. When these are treated with
an alkali say NaOH at high temperature the outcome is not sufficient, this is because of the high
surface tension of water and avoids the wetting of the hydrophobic surface. For this problem we
uses wetting agent which have tendency to reduce the surface tension of the water e.g. soap.
 In the presence of this the higher fatty acid are converted into fatty acidand glycerine, glycerine
is water soluble and fatty acid formed is further reacted with alkali giving the soluble salt of
alkali.

Emulsification: -
When we saponify the fabric we get the oils removed but mineral oils are still present and are
removed by this method.
Emulsion is a stable mixture of two otherwise immiscible liquids. We use an emulsifying agent,
which keeps the emulsion formed for a longer time. When the mineral oil or waxes are
emulsified they can be easily removed by washing.
Detergency: -
The dust and dirt particles are removed by using a good detergent. The detergent keeps the dirt
and dust particles in a stable suspension in water and does not allow them to settle again.
The scouring can be done in following ways: -
1) Kier and J-Box when scouring is to be done in rope form
2) Open width pad roll system when open width treatment is required

A)Kier is the most often used machine for the scouring process in the industry. They are
horizontal and vertical cylindrical vessel in which the fabric is piled up in the rope form and then
hot alkaline scouring liquor is circulated through the fabric. They are generally made up of iron
and are available in various capacities; generally 2-ton kier is used.
The kier can be horizontal or vertical and open or pressure kier.
The process of arrangement of the fabric in a particular way is known as piling. It can be done
automatically with the help of vertical trunk that keep moving backward and forward to ensure
even piling. Along with this scouring liquid is also passed so that rapid impregnation fabric with
chemicals and water takes of place. This is termed as mechanical piling.
Another is done manually
in which a worker is required but this isnot uniform and also scouring liquor cannot be poured at
this time. Henceit can also lead to seepage of scouring liquor and improper impregnation and
hence improper scouring.
The process of getting the fabric piled up, the liquor circulating inside the kier is known as
kiering.
It consists of following steps. First the fabric is being piled up and then the scouring recipe is
prepared. After pouring the recipe with the help of the ring spray as it help in evenly spraying of
the liquor, heating and circulation of the liquor is done. Removal of air is being done, as air must
be avoided.
It is done to prevent the tendering of the fabric. This is done with the help of the air vent valve.
Set the pressure to optimum level.

The overloading of the fabric is being avoided as it causes improper scouring of the fabric.T he
temperature should be kept 130
˚
C and pressure should be1.8kg/cm for about 8-10 hours. The M.L.R should be about 1:4 to
1:5.A safety valve is provided over the lid of the pressure kier to allow the excess pressure to go
off in the form of the steam if the pressure exceeds the desired value. The process of unloading
the fabric is known as dekiering.
It is done by pressure reduction with the help of safety air vent valve. Draining of the excess
liquor and then wash is given to the fabric at least two times and finally unload the fabric. The
Open Kier
differs from a pressure kier in not having a lid for closing of kier that is there is no pressure in an
open kier. The rest of conditions are same except the temperature is 80-90˚C

B)
J-Box
is another important machinery for scouring and is termed as this because the shape of
machine resembles to the letter J. The fabric is treated with the alkali solution before it
enters the J-Box. The fabric is passed in the rope form and evenly piled up and then treated
with steam for about 60-90 minutes. The scouring time being less the concentration of the alkali
solution is as high as 4-5%. The process of the J-Box scouring can be made continuous by
taking out the scoured fabric from one end and at the same time feeding up of the unscoured
fabric from the other end.

The fabric after being squeezed off from the rollers passes through
pre heater
where the cold fabric is being conditioned to the temperature of the machine as this help in good
scouring. In the saturator the fabric is impregnated in the scouring solution. The fabric is piled
up evenly in the U shape structure of the J-Box and exposed to stem for about 60-90minutes at
about 95-97˚C. The steam being condensed is drained off.

C)Open width or pad roll

process is another method but here the fabric passes in full width and hence prevents the rope
markings on the fabric. The time required for the processing is 90-150 minutes and the
temperature is 97-99 ºC but the concentration of the alkali is 5% on the wt of the fabric.
The fabric in its full width is passed through a trough, which has a large number of the bottom
and top rollers and is full of scouring solution, after squeezing the fabric is moved to the reaction
chamber. The reaction chamber has two types of steam pipes. One is used for direct heating
other is used for indirect heating. The direct heating is used for rise of temperature and indirect
heating is used for maintaining the temperature