Wool Scouring and Early Processing
topic
Greasy wool processing: (1) sorting and grading by quality, (2) scouring at 55-65°C with detergent (pH 9-10) removing wool grease (lanolin 10-20% of greasy weight), suint (dried perspiration 2-5%), dirt (2-10%), achieving 50-70% yield (clean wool), (3) carbonizing (optional, treating with sulfuric acid 4-7% at 60°C then baking at 100-120°C to carbonize vegetable matter), (4) carding (disentangling and parallelizing fibres into sliver), (5) combing (optional, for worsted—removing short fibres <50 mm, further parallelization). Byproduct: lanolin recovered (25,000-30,000 tonnes annually) for cosmetics, pharmaceuticals ($20-50/kg).
Role
Scouring and carbonizing remove 30-50% of greasy wool weight, representing significant water (50-100 L/kg) and energy consumption (15-25 MJ/kg clean wool), while lanolin recovery provides economic value offsetting treatment costs and environmental burden of wool processing.