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Soy proteins as environmentally friendly sizing agents to replace poly(vinyl alcohol)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 20, pages 6085–6095 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

An environmentally friendly and inexpensive substitute to the widely used poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) has been developed from soy proteins for textile warp sizing. Textile processing is the major source of industrial water pollution across the world, and sizing and desizing operations account for nearly 30 % of the water consumed in a textile plant. PVA is one of the most common sizing agents used for synthetic fibers and their blends due to PVA’s easy water solubility and ability to provide desired sizing performance. However, PVA does not degrade and is a major contributor to pollution in textile effluent treatment plants. Although considerable efforts have been made to replace PVA with biodegradable sizing materials, the performance properties provided by PVA on synthetic fibers and their blends have been unmatched so far. Soy proteins are inexpensive, biodegradable, and have been widely studied for potential use in food packaging, as resins and adhesives. In this research, the potential of using soy proteins as textile sizing agents to replace PVA was studied. Polyester and polyester/cotton rovings, yarns, and fabrics sized with soy protein showed a considerably better improvement in strength and abrasion resistance compared to commercially available PVA-based size. Soy protein size had a 5-day biochemical oxygen demand /chemical oxygen demand ratio of 0.57 compared to 0.01 for PVA indicating that soy protein sizes were easily biodegradable in activated sludge. The total and ammonia nitrogen released from the proteins also did not adversely impact the biodegradability. Good sizing performance and easy biodegradability demonstrate that soy protein-based sizes have potential to replace PVA-based sizes leading to substantial benefits to the textile industry and the environment.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support for this work was partially from the Agricultural Research Division at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USDA Hatch Act, Multi-State Project S1054 (NEB 37-037) and Chinese National High Technology Research and Development Program 863 Project (2013AA06A307), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Item No. 2011D10543), the Doctoral Dissertation Innovation Program BC201040 of Donghua University, and the China Scholarship Council. We thank Jorge Samayoa and Brad Barber with the Lincoln Waste Water Treatment Facility for their help in the activated sludge studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Science and Technology of Eco-Textiles, Ministry of Education, Donghua University, Shanghai, China, 200051

    Lihong Chen & Yiqi Yang

  2. Department of Textiles, Merchandising, & Fashion Design, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 234, HECO Building, East Campus, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0802, USA

    Lihong Chen, Narendra Reddy & Yiqi Yang

  3. Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 234, HECO Building, East Campus, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0802, USA

    Yiqi Yang

  4. Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 234, HECO Building, East Campus, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0802, USA

    Yiqi Yang

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  1. Lihong Chen
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  2. Narendra Reddy
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Correspondence to Yiqi Yang.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Chen, L., Reddy, N. & Yang, Y. Soy proteins as environmentally friendly sizing agents to replace poly(vinyl alcohol). Environ Sci Pollut Res 20, 6085–6095 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1601-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1601-5

Keywords

  • Sizing
  • Poly(vinyl alcohol)
  • Biodegradation
  • Proteins
  • Ammonia
  • Cohesion