MICROEMULSIONS IN RAW WOOL SCOURING

A laboratory study on the efficiency of microemulsions to remove raw wool contaminants at ambient temperature is presented. Due to the characteristic properties of microemulsions, namely the ability to solubilize both water-soluble and oil-soluble compounds, it could be expected that they may play an important role in raw wool scouring. Microemulsions of ternary water/technical grade nonionic surfactant/hydrocarbon systems have been chosen and appropriate microemulsion compositions have been selected according to phase diagram determinations. Microemulsion efficiency has been evaluated by whiteness values, percentage of solvent extractables and optical microscopy of scoured wool. The results obtained have shown that water soluble (suint) as well as solvent soluble (grease) contaminants and probably Proteinaceous contaminant layer were efficiently removed from raw wool scoured in microemulsion media at ambient temperature.