Dewooling from skin by chemical method and iťs effect on fibers and skin quality

This study was conducted to determine the effect of chemical methods for dewooling from skin on Moghani sheep skin and wool quality. Two treatments of sodium hydroxide (three and five percent) and two treatments of sodium sulfide (10 and 15 percent) rub to 100 skin and time spent to collect wool from skin surface, fibers staple length and diameter recorded. Dewooled skins at thin-cross stage were evaluated by three leather experts for hair follicle, shape, elasticity, flesh, softness, water absorbability, fineness, wrinkleless, thickness and footage loss. Results indicated that the time spent to collect wool from sodium sulfide treated skins was significantly (P< 0.05) lower than sodium hydroxide treated skins. Lowest and highest time for dewooling was (80.3 ± 4.1 minutes) and (180.3 ± 5.3 minutes) for skins treated with 15% sodium sulfide and three percent sodium hydroxide respectively. Quality score for skin treated with 10 and 15% sodium sulfide and three and five percent sodium hydroxide were 30.2 (± 0.1), 31.2 (± 0.5), 37 (± 0.5) and 35.8 (± 1.0), respectively. In general, skins treated with sodium hydroxide have better quality than skins treated with sodium sulfide.