Scouring
Scouring is the process of removing all undesirable impurities such as foreign matter, soil or processing aids (waxes, lubricants, etc.) from fabric/yarn prior to dyeing or finishing. This pretreatment is an important stage, especially for natural fibres which have a significant presence of natural impurities. Conventionally, scouring involves the use of wetting agents (surfactant), Emulsifiers (Non-ionic surfactants) and alkaline solutions to remove hydrophobic components from the primary wall. Synthetic fibres may need only a mild detergent scour.
Scouring will make fabric sufficiently hydrophilic, remove impurities, increase absorbency and produce clean surface for next processes.
Methods of scouring
Continuous method: J-BOX (see graphic)
- It is called J-BOX process since the scouring vessel looks like “J”.
- Feeding fabric from one end and coming out the scoured fabric from the other end.
- Impregnation box (Impregnation temperature: 70-80°C, impregnation time: 40-90 sec).
- Pre-heating (at 90-100°C for 30 sec).
- J-BOX (1-4 hours at 100°C).
- Washing unit.
Discontinuous method: Kier Boiling (Pressure kier)
- Removal of impurities by alkaline boiling under pressure.
- Very good removal of impurities.
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This resource was developed as part of an Erasmus+ project, funded with support from the European Commission under grant agreement 2016-1-SE01-KA203-22064.
The project was a collaboration between:
- The University of Borås, Sweden
- The University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland
- The University of Alcalá, Spain
- Digital Connections, Scotland
This resource has been released under Creative Commons license CC-BY-SA 4.0.
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- Academic content – The University of Boras (www.hb.se)
- Technical resource development – The University of the Highlands and Islands Educational Development Unit - EDU (edu@uhi.ac.uk)
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