Patent ID: 11959112
Assignee: COTTON INCORPORATED
Field: Biotechnology (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C  Y | IPC C

Claim 0:
1. A process for processing a cotton-containing textile comprising:
(a) pretreating the cotton-containing textile with a first weak acid pretreatment at elevated temperature in a range of about 240° F. to about 410° F. to form a cotton slurry,
wherein the cotton-containing textile comprises cotton, cotton-blend, cotton/polyester blend, cotton/viscose/nylon blend, and mixtures thereof;

(b) cooling the cotton slurry from (a) to a range of about 120° F. to about 160° F.;
(c) adding at least one base to the slurry from (b);
(d) adding a second weak acid to the slurry from (c) to form a buffer in situ;
(e) adding at least one hydrolysis enzyme to the buffered slurry from (d) to run enzymatic hydrolysis of the slurry; and
(f) filtering the slurry from (e) to separate hydrolysate from cotton-containing textile residue.