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Wool Research Research Portfolio
The 07/08 financial year has seen Wool Research continue to support a variety of industry good “post farm gate” research activities. Six individual projects were funded at AgResearch over the period, resulting in approximately $1m investment over the period. Three projects were completed during the period, and two new projects agreed.
Sonochemical Applications in Wet Wool Processing
Service provider: AgResearch Ltd
Status: New Project
Summary
The primary objective of this project is to evaluate this strategy aimed to reduce the environmental impact of aqueous processing of wool in terms of water, energy and chemical use. High frequency sonic waves (ultrasound) produce sonochemical effects in liquids due mainly to the effect of cavitation – the rapid growth and collapse of microscopic bubbles - which cause localised extremely high temperatures and pressures in otherwise cold liquids.
The effect of the application to wool scouring, yarn scouring, dyeing, bleaching, and chlorine free shrink resist treatments will be investigated.
Prevention of Photobleaching and Photodegradation in Carpet Wools
Service provider: AgResearch Ltd
Status: New Project
Summary
The project is designed to further develop the mitigation strategies for photobleaching and photodegradation that were identified in the related project completed during this period. The initial project developed a good understanding of the mechanisms by which damage occurs in the fibre, and trialled, at laboratory level, an approach using a protective matrix addition to the fibre.
This new project aims to develop a commercial process, and will involve the refinement of the initial approach, testing of the downstream effects on treated fibre and manufactured products, and recommendation of commercially applicable processes.
Life Cycle Analysis of the Environmental Impacts of Carpet Production
Service provider: AgResearch Ltd
Status: Completed
Summary
This project was designed to conduct a comparative Life Cycle Analysis study to compare the environmental performance of wool and nylon carpets. The project included a literature study which will provide industry with a useful links to relevant work published to date.
The study identified the impacts of each stage in the carpet value chain from growing the fibre through to end of life stewardship. The results indicated that wool carpets have significant advantage over nylon carpet in terms of total energy use, but that aspects of wool fibre production create less favourable performance with respect to global warming potential. The nylon carpet data used in the comparison was derived from the published literature.
Reducing Volatile Organic Chemical (VOC) Emissions from Carpet
Service provider: AgResearch Ltd
Status: Completed
Summary
This project was designed as a response to the difficulty found by some international NZ wool based carpet manufacturers to meet the VOC levels required by several of the environmental standards, for example the Green Label Plus scheme.
A range of materials and processes were evaluated as part of the project work, identifying up to threefold differences in VOC emissions for different products providing similar functions. The performance of a range of materials was assessed, along with a recommended combination to assist manufacturers to confidently meet the various requirements of the most relevant international standards.
A New Approach to Proteomic Characterisation and Structural Elucidation of Wool Quality Traits
Service provider: AgResearch Ltd
Status: Ongoing Project
Summary
The project utilises a set of advanced proteomics/mass spectrometric methods to investigate and identify the links between the proteins in the wool fibre, and the presence and utilisation of fibre quality traits such as strength and crimp. New knowledge will be generated with regard to the protein identities, their frequency and contribution to fibre performance characteristics.
Good progress has been made in refining the analysis techniques to enable protein identities, expression patterns, abundances, and their relationship with key physical fibre characteristics to be determined. Techniques to analyse the presence of crosslinks have been successfully demonstrated.
Traceability for Sheep Product Knowledge, Value and Market Access
Service provider: AgResearch Ltd
Status: Ongoing Project
Summary
(subject to feasibility review) This project takes two approaches to provide industry with physical methods of tracing the source of fibre in wool containing products.
The first part of the project involves the controlled addition of known marker fibres into a wool blend. Work to establish the best approach to add synthetic marker fibres to a wool delivery has been completed, demonstrating that tracer fibre levels as low as 1:5000 are possible.
The second phase of this project involves a feasibility study using Isotope Ratio Mass Spectronomy to determine whether there are identifiable stable isotope ratios for New Zealand wool that are distinguishable from wool grown in other countries. In this initial work, methods to enable contamination free wool samples to be analysed using Isotope Ratio Mass Spectroscopy has been developed, and a range of wool samples from NZ, UK and China tested. This aspect of the project will be developed further subject to positive results from the feasibility study being produced.
Insect Gut Mechanism of Surfactants
Service provider: AgResearch Ltd
Status: Ongoing Project
Summary
This project continues the focus of investment in non-insecticidal methods of protecting wool textiles from attack by moth (Tineoa bisselliella) and carpet beetle larvae (Anthrenocerus australis). It assumes that surfactants are the most likely long term solution against insect attack, and is designed to develop a clear understanding of the mechanisms by which certain surfactants are able to protect the fibre.
Work completed over this period included a literature search which identified several potentially effective modifications to the chemical structure of surfactants; a moth and beetle larvae behavioural study which indicated that the mechanism of action of a known effective surfactant demonstrated no obvious repellent effect; insect gut enzyme assays which showed a significant reduction in the levels of four out of the six enzymes measured in moth larvae after they had been exposed to treated wool; no morphological differences were identified in the digestive tract of moth larvae. Carpet beetle gut could not be observed under a microscope due to difficulties preparing the gut. The project will focus on measurement of gut enzyme reactions to other effective and prospective surfactants, as well as the synthesis and testing of new surfactant related compounds, resulting in a recommendation for the most promising new treatment.
Amplification of Wool Surface Functionality to Create Novel Textile Treatments
Service provider: AgResearch Ltd
Status: Ongoing Project
Summary
The surface of the wool fibre largely influences its chemical potential and suitability for the modification to enable new or novel applications. This project is designed to significantly enhance the surface reactivity of the fibre thereby opening the way for a range of novel surface treatments such as durable micro and nano-encapsulations, adjustable hydrophobicity, and new photoprotection treatments.
Conclusive proof of principle was demonstrated during the first year of this project, with all involved confident that significantly higher levels of potential new functionality will be able to be permanently applied to the fibre or materials manufactured from wool.
The ongoing work will examine the effect on prepared fibres, as well as to report the effectiveness of application of selected secondary treatments.
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