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Silk reeling of silkworm cocoon in strongly alkaline electrolyzed water as a

sericin swelling agent at low temperature

Article  in  Journal of the Textile Institute · May 2014

DOI: 10.1080/00405000.2013.826418

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 The Journal of The Textile Institute, 2014
Vol. 105, No. 5, 502–508, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405000.2013.826418

Silk reeling of silkworm cocoon in strongly alkaline electrolyzed water as a sericin swelling
agent at low temperature
Ting-Ting Cao, Yuan-Jing Wang and Yu-Qing Zhang*

Silk Biotechnology Laboratory, School of Biology and Basic Medical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou, P.R. China
(Received 25 April 2013; accepted 15 July 2013)

Strongly alkaline electrolyzed water (SAEW) was used as a sericin swelling agent for silk reeling from cocoons of the
silkworm Bombyx mori. Tap water was electrolyzed with a laboratory-made combined water electrolyzer to generate
SAEW with pH 11.50. The hardness of SAEW was 30% less than that of the tap water, whereas the concentrations of
Na+ in SAEW were 18% higher than those in the tap water. The pH of the SAEW was stable for at least a month in an
airtight container. Cocoons were immersed in pH 11.50 SAEW for 15 min with shaking, which replaces one step of the
Downloaded by [Suzhou University] at 18:45 13 March 2014

complex cocoon cooking process in the traditional reeling method (TRM) where penetration is achieved by repeatedly
alternating high and low temperatures. The swollen cocoons were transferred into fresh pH 11.50 SAEW for reeling at
the same, or slightly lower, temperature. The sericin loss from the whole cocoon in pH 11.50 SAEW is about 3.5% and
the tensile property of the single silk fibroin filament is similar to or better than that of TRM. Silk reeling in SAEW
involves only one step of cocoon swelling in pH 11.50 SAEW (70°C), which replaces a series of complex processes
including water penetration, water absorption, swelling, and then silk reeling in the TRM. A novel low-temperature and
simple reeling technology suitable for development by the silk industry is described.
Keywords: silk reeling; cocoon cooking; sericin; strongly alkaline electrolyzed water; low temperature

Introduction advantage of these features; they used boiling water

The silk fiber produced by the silkworm Bombyx mori is
a protein-based polymer composed of 70–80% (w/w)
fibroin and 20–30% (w/w) of a sericin adhesive layer
containing 5% wax, pigments, carbohydrates, and other
impurities. Fibroin is a crystalline protein fiber and
the surrounding adhesive layer of sericin has an impor-
tant role in maintaining the cocoon spatial structure,
thus ensuring the metamorphosis and development of
silkworm pupae.
Some or even all of the sericin layers surrounding
the fibroin is removed during subsequent pretreatment of
silk for effective coloration; water penetration into the
cocoon shell for reducing the adhesive between a sericin
layer and fibroin, often called sericin swelling, promotes
smooth mechanical reeling of the fibroin into the raw
silk fiber. Thus, sericin swelling and water penetration
into the cocoon shell, traditionally referred to as cocoon
cooking, affect cocoon reeling and the quality of the
raw silk.
Sericin is a small globular protein composed of 18
amino acids (Wang & Zhang, 2011), the majority of
which are polar, hydrophilic residues with long side
chains, is readily soluble in water, especially alkaline hot
water, and swells easily. Ancient Chinese people took
for cocoon cooking, i.e. swelling and removing the
sericin, and then reeled in the raw silk. Today, swell-
ing of the cocoon layer and cocoon cooking are achieved
by repeated swelling/penetration in steam or in high-
temperature water but, unlike the method used by our
ancestors, the cocoon cooking and reeling processes are
automated. The current silk reeling industry uses a
circulating cocoon cooking machine that allows water to
penetrate into the cocoons at high temperature and
operates on the principle of vacuum infiltration. Cooking
the cocoons at high temperature induces swelling of the
sericin layer and penetration of water into the cocoon
shell; controlling the temperature and timing of the
treatment is very important (Naik & Somashekar, 2008).
The outer layer of the cocoon shell, which consists of a
highly water-soluble fraction of sericin accounting for
5% (w/w) of the total sericin, is dissolved in the reeling
soup by cocoon cooking. The high energy consumption
of the complex and high-temperature cocoon cooking
process, as well as the huge amounts of waste reeling
soup containing low levels of sericin, are still of concern
to the modern silk reeling industry.
As early as 1984, Hisashi attempted to reel silk
directly from frozen cocoons in order to avoid the

*Corresponding author. Email: sericult@suda.edu.cn

Ó 2013 The Textile Institute

 The Journal of The Textile Institute
complex process of cocoon drying and cooking (Hisashi,
1984). However, cocoon cryopreservation substantially
increases the cost of silk reeling. A pineapple extract rich
in cysteine proteinases was used as an effective agent for
the cocoon cooking and reeling of oak tasar (Antheraea
proylei J.) (Singh, Devi & Devi, 2003). There have been
studies of Antheraea mylilla cocoonase and its use in
silk preparation (Prasad, Pandey, & Sinha, 2012). Chen,
Li, Shen, Wei, and Xu (2010) bred a new variety of
mulberry cocoon with less sericin in the cocoon and
tried to achieve cocoon cooking and reeling at a lower
temperature of 80°C. No method of cocoon cooking and
reeling raw silk superior to that currently used commer-
cially has been reported. A decade ago, Japanese work-
ers investigated the use of tap water and the addition of
an electrolytic accelerator or mineral salts to tap water to
generate alkaline electrolyzed water for silk degumming
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(Junich, 1998; Kie, 2001; Kim, Chung, & Lee, 2005;
Kim, Kwon, Lee, & Woo, 2001; Tsukasa & Takashi,
2007), but there has been no report of the use of
electrolyzed tap water for cocoon cooking and reeling.
In the present study, a laboratory-made combined water
electrolyzer was used for the electrolysis of tap water to
generate alkaline pH-stable electrolyzed water in which
the ordinary commercial cocoon layer can be swollen
and penetrated rapidly at a lower temperature for a short
length of time before reeling.
Materials and methods
Strongly alkaline electrolyzed water preparation
The preparation of strongly alkaline electrolyzed water
(SAEW) at pH 11.50 was done with a laboratory-made
electrolyzer composed of six groups of parallel electro-
lytic plates with a 12 V DC power supply for the
electrolysis of tap water essentially as described but with
a slight modification (Zhang, Wang, Wu, Wang, & Zhu,
2012). The structure of the water electrolyzer is shown
Pt Anode
Ceramic Film
Pt Cathode
SAEW Purification
Acidic H2O pH3.00
Tap Water
SAEW pH11.50
Figure 1. A diagram of the laboratory-built water electrolyzer.
503
diagramatically in Figure 1. The tap water runs directly
into the electrolyzer for the preparation of SAEW and
the pH is adjusted by controlling the flow rate of the tap
water. The SAEW is purified by passage through a filter
to remove the white precipitate and any suspended
substance before storage in an airtight container.
Traditional reeling method
The traditional reeling method (TRM) is basically the
same as that used by an automated reeling machine in a
modern silk industry. The process involves water absorp-
tion or penetration into the cocoon layer for sericin
swelling. Therefore, TRM was selected as the control for
a reeling experiment with a hand-reeled method often
used in the laboratory. Male cocoons were selected for
the experiment (Zhang et al., 2010). The steps in the
TRM are shown in Figure 2. Silkworm cocoons were
immersed in boiling water (500–800 mL) and incubated
at 100°C for 1.5 min with shaking (80–100 rpm) to
remove air from the cocoon shells, transferred into water
at 65°C and kept there for 2.5 min, transferred into water
at 100°C and kept there for 2.0 min, and transferred to
an 80–90°C waterbath and kept there for 9.0 min.
Finally, the cocoons were transferred into a 70°C
waterbath for reeling. When reeling, the priorities of the
silk fiber were numbered by 100 cycles into one group
(100 cycles/group, 1125 m/cycle), and the reeled silk
Silk reeling: 3 cocoons/sample
Take 10 groups of raw silk (100 cycles/group)
1st , 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th , 5 th …… 10 th Group
200 Single fibroin filaments by degumming
10 single fibroin filaments (5cm long)/group
Tensile property measurements of single filaments
An average values of 10 single filaments
Figure 2. TRM and sampling method.
 504 T.-T. Cao et al.
fiber (often called raw silk) was initially marked by 1st,
2nd, 3rd … 10th groups. The values for the raw silk
properties were calculated as:
(1) Reelability (%) = [1/(number of thread troubles
+ 1)]  100;
(2) Fineness of silk filament (Denier) = [raw silk
weight (dry)/ raw silk length (m)]  9000;
(3) Raw silk recovery (%) = [raw silk weight (dry)/
cocoon shell weight (dry)]  100;
(4) Reelable length (m) = reelability  raw silk
length (m).
SAEW reeling method
Silkworm cocoons were immersed in pH 11.50 SAEW
(1:30/W:V) at 70°C and incubated for 15 min with
shaking (120 rpm). The detailed steps are as follows. The
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cocoons were installed in our home-made mesh
container of stainless steel wire, immersed in alkaline
electrolyzed water, and caught in a mechanical shaking
chassis so that it ensures these cocoons immersed shakily
and uniformly in electrolyzed water. The swollen
cocoons were transferred into fresh pH 11.50 SAEW at
70°C and the silk was wound onto a reel by hand. The
marking, numbering, and calculation of the reeling score
of the raw silk of one cocoon were done as described
previously (Figure 2).
Tensile test
The three groups (3rd, 4th, and 5th groups) of marked
raw silk were degummed in neutral soap solution as
described (Gulrajani, 1992). The numbered order in
cocoon would be not disrupted. Ten single silk fibroin fil-
aments (length 50 mm) taken randomly from 200 single
filaments of each group were measured with a universal
testing machine (VNCLSYJ-001, Instron model 3365;
Instron, Industrial Product Group, Grove, PA, USA). The
maximum load and the shift, energy, and tensile strain at
maximum load were calculated.
Results and discussion
SAEW preparation and water quality
Tap water (pH 8) was electrolyzed to produce a total
of 36 L of pH 3.00 acidic electrolyzed water as washing
water with various antimicrobial properties (Fabrizio,
Sharma, Demirci, & Cutter, 2002; Hotz, Linneweber,
Dohmen, & Konertz, 2004) and 20 L of pH 11.50
SAEW. The SAEW was passed through a filter to
remove the residue consisting of salts such as calcium
carbonate that are insoluble or only poorly soluble in
SAEW. The filtered SAEW was as transparent and clear
as the tap water and could be stored under airtight
conditions for more than a month with very little change
of pH. Elementary analysis showed that the hardness of
the filtered SAEW (pH 11.50) was reduced by 30% and
the Na+ concentration was 18% higher compared to
the values for the tap water. Therefore, the strong alka-
linity of SAEW is mainly due to the high concentration
of OH resulting from water electrolysis.
Effect of the pH of SAEW on silk reeling performance
Cocoons were divided into five test groups (10 cocoons/
group) and immersed in SAEW with a pH of 10.00,
10.50, 11.00, 11.50, or 12.00, placed into a shaking
(120 rpm) water bath at 70°C, and kept there for 15 min
to allow water to penetrate rapidly into the cocoon shell
and induce sericin swelling. After transfer into SAEW
with the same pH and temperature, the silk was reeled
from the swollen cocoons. Table 1 gives the reelability
of cocoons swollen in SAEW of different pH values at
70°C. Reelability increased with increased pH of the
SAEW was maximal (78.7%) at pH 11.50 and was
reduced at higher pH. Other parameters showed a similar
trend (Table 1). These results show that pH 11.50 SAEW
is the most appropriate for swelling and water penetra-
tion into the cocoon and it is used for the cocoon swell-
ing and water absorption in the following experiments
except where noted otherwise.
Temperature effect
In order to find the optimum temperature for water
penetration, cocoons in pH 11.50 SAEW were divided
into five groups and one group was incubated at each
test temperature, 60, 65, 70, 75, and 80°C, in a bath
ratio (cocoons/SAEW) of 1:40 (w/v) with shaking.
After immersion for 15 min, the swollen cocoons were
transferred into fresh pH 11.50 SAEW at the same
temperature and reeling was started. Table 2 gives the
effect of swelling temperature on the silk reeling results;
it can be seen that the reeling scores at four temperatures
(60–75°C) increased with increased temperature. At
70°C, reelability, fineness of silk filament, raw silk
recovery, and reelability length were maximal at 83.2%,
Table 1. Effect of SAEW pH on silk reeling performance.
Fineness of Raw silk
SAEW Reelability silk filament recovery Reelability
pH (%) (denier) (%) length (m)
10.00 52.8 1.086 57.2 389.72
10.50 66.1 1.807 73.7 553.48
11.00 70.0 1.913 87.2 550.22
11.50 78.7 2.198 94.2 834.78
12.00 75.5 2.186 91.3 797.47
Note: The values are the average of reeling scores of 10 cocoons.
 The Journal of The Textile Institute 505

Table 2. Effect of swelling temperature on silk reeling Bath ratio for cocoon swelling
performance.
In order to determine the effect of the volume of SAEW
Fineness on the swelling of sericin in the cocoon layer, the
of silk Raw silk cocoons were immersed in pH 11.50 SAEW at 70°C for
Temperature Reelability filament recovery Reelability 15 min at bath ratios of 1:10, 1:20, 1:30, 1:40, and 1:50
(°C) (%) (denier) (%) length (m) (w/v) and the results are given in Table 4. The effect of
60 44.8 1.156 74.5 375.68 the bath ratio on cocoon reeling scores was not clear.
65 66.0 1.906 89.6 638.79 There was no significant difference between the reelabili-
70 83.2 2.189 97.2 898.18 ty, fineness of silk filament, raw silk recovery, and reela-
75 80.3 1.975 90.2 801.82
bility length for bath ratios of 1:10 (w/v) or 1:50 (w/v).
80 72.2 1.865 87.6 708.52
Thus, the selection of the selected bath ratio of 1:20–40
Note: The values are the average of reeling scores of 10 cocoons. (w/v) should be properly justified in view of the values
shown in Table 4. Generally, we choose a slightly larger
bath ratio as a test to avoid frequently changing the
2.189 denier, 97.2%, and 898 m, respectively. Therefore,
SAEW reeling soup due to the accumulation of sericin
a swelling temperature of 70°C in pH 11.50 SAEW was
in SAEW. Therefore, a bath ratio of 1:40 was selected to
used in all reeling experiments except where noted
be used in the experiment except where noted otherwise.
otherwise.
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Comparison of reeling results

Penetration time
The principle and process of TRM are very similar to
The male cocoons were weighed and divided into eight
those of industrial automatic silk reeling machines;
groups (10 cocoons/group), immersed in pH 11.50
therefore, the reeling experiments in SAEW used TRM
SAEW at a bath ratio of 1:40 (w/v), and incubated at
as the control and the results of comparison tests are
70°C with shaking (120 rpm) for 5, 10, 15, 30, 60, 120,
given in Table 5. It is clear that immersion in pH 11.50
180, or 240 min. The swollen cocoons were transferred
SAEW for 15 min at 70°C with shaking allows rapid
into fresh pH 11.50 SAEW at 70°C to begin winding the
penetration of water into the cocoon and swelling of
silk onto a reel. As shown in Table 3, the four reeling
sericin that facilitates reeling. The four reeling scores
scores were different at different penetration times.
obtained with SAEW are slightly better than those for
After immersion for 5 min in pH 11.50 SAEW at
the TRM. These results show that the simple SAEW
70°C, the reelability, fineness of silk filament, raw silk
reeling technology is energy saving and could com-
recovery, and reelability length of the swelled cocoon
were low. The values for reelability, fineness of silk
filament, and raw silk recovery were the highest for Table 4. Effect of bath ratio for cocoon swelling on reeling
immersion for 15 min but the reelability length score.
(850.855 m) was the highest following immersion for
Bath Fineness of Raw silk
60 min. Therefore, immersion in pH 11.5 SAEW for
ratio Reelability silk filament recovery Reelability
15 min was used for the reeling experiments. (w/v) (%) (denier) (%) length (m)
1:10 79.75 2.213 92.5 842.63
1:20 80.62 2.119 93.2 850.86
1:30 79.46 2.154 91.7 838.80
Table 3. Effect of swelling time in SAEW on silk reeling 1:40 80.04 2.109 93.6 846.36
performance. 1:50 78.88 2.156 92.6 831.26

Fineness of Raw silk Note: The values are the average of reeling scores of 10 cocoons.
Time Reelability silk filament recovery Reelability
(min) (%) (denier) (%) length (m)
Table 5. Comparison of cocoon reeling scores between TRM
5 78.74 1.986 87.2 767.29 and SAEW reeling methods.
10 79.03 2.207 93.7 834.38
15 81.78 2.213 94.2 831.08 Fineness of Raw silk
30 80.04 2.209 93.6 846.37 Reeling Reelability silk filament recovery Reelability
60 80.62 2.189 93.8 850.86 method (%) (denier) (%) length (m)
120 79.75 2.203 92.9 842.63
180 79.46 2.167 90.7 838.80 TRM 76.85 1.97 87.24 717.89
240 78.88 2.106 91.2 831.26 SAEW 78.30 2.00 93.71 818.90

Note: The values are the average of reeling scores of 10 cocoons. Note: The values are the average of reeling scores of 10 cocoons.
 506
pletely replace TRM, which is a more complicated and
energy-wasteful reeling method.
Sericin loss and water permeability in cocoons
In order to determine sericin solubility and/or loss in the
cooking and reeling process, two groups of male
cocoons of the same weight were subjected to the two
degumming methods. Immediately after cooking by
TRM or immersion in SAEW, the cocoons were weighed
and cut into cross-sectional slices to observe the extent
of water penetration. Digital photographs were taken and
the results are given in Table 6.
There are differences of water absorption and sericin
loss, and hence the weight of cooked cocoons between
the two cooking methods. The sharp difference is that
the total weight of cocoons cooked in TRM was 83.4 g,
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i.e. the cocoons absorbed 74.46 g of water. When the
cocoons cooked by TRM were cut into cross-sections, it
could be seen that the cocoon was almost full of water.
By contrast, the cooked cocoons that had been incubated
in SAEW at 70°C for 15 min had little water in the
cocoon cavity and water had penetrated the inner layer
of the cocoon (Figure 3(a)) and the amount of water
absorbed was only 10.30 g in cocoons that had been
immersed in SAEW (Table 6). A difference was
observed also when the two kinds of cooked cocoons
were reeled; the cocoons cooked by the TRM were
suspended in the water, but the cocoons immersed in
SAEW floated on the water (Figure 3(b)). The amount
of sericin loss in the TRM was 0.30 g from 10 cocoons
during the period including cooking and reeling, which
represents 3.36% of the whole cocoon weight. The
amount of sericin lost was 0.35 g from 10 SAEW
cocoons, i.e. slightly more than that lost from the TRM
cocoons, which represents 3.95% of the whole cocoon
weight. Here, we reported that the SAEW method is
actually one-step cocoon swelling method, it is very
simple; while the traditional swelling reeling method is a
complex process that needs three times of repeated
swelling in different temperature water baths, the solubil-
ity of sericin in pH 11.50 SAEW was much higher than
that in the original tap water. These results showed that
the cocoon swelling process of immersion in pH 11.50
SAEW at 70°C with shaking could replace cooking at
high temperature, and 15 min is long enough for the pen-
etration of sufficient SAEW into the cocoon to induce
Table 6. Loss of sericin and water absorption in the cocoon cooking and reeling process.
Reeling method Dry cocoon (g) Cooked cocoon (g)
TRM 8.94 ± 0.06 83.40 ± 5.75
SAEW 8.85 ± 0.64 19.15 ± 0.21
Note: The values are the average of reeling scores of 10 cocoons.
T.-T. Cao et al.
(a)
(b)
SAEW H2O
Figure 3. (a) SAEW-swollen cocoons and (b) the reeling states
of TRM-cooked and SAEW-swollen cocoons in water.
sericin swelling. It is possible that the swollen cocoons
were still absorbing water while reeling in 70°C SAEW.
Tensile properties of the single silk fibroin filament
In order to determine whether the tensile properties of
the single silk fibroin filament are affected by swelling
and reeling in pH 11.50 SAEW, the reeled raw silk fibers
produced by the TRM and the SAEW procedures were
degummed in neutral soap solution to remove all of the
sericin from around the fiber. After the removal of
sericin, 10 single silk fibroin filaments (length 5 cm)
were taken randomly from each of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th
groups (100 cycles/group, 1.125 m/cycle). The tensile
properties of the single fibers were determined by an
Instron 3365 Universal Testing Machine. As shown in
Table 7, the tensile strength of degummed silk fibroin fil-
ament from cocoons swollen and reeled in pH 11.50
SAEW at low temperature was slightly lower, by <3%,
than that produced from the TRM cocoons. The shift
and energy at maximum load of the former were also a
little lower than those of the latter, by 8% and 5%,
respectively. The tensile strain of the former at maximum
load was slightly lower, by 2.4%, than that of the latter.
These results showed that there was no significant effect
of swelling and reeling in pH 11.50 SAEW on the silk
fibroin or the raw silk; the swelling and reeling process
in SAEW resulted in the loss of sericin equal to only
Water absorption (g) Sericin loss (g) Sericin loss (%)
74.46 ± 5.80 0.30 ± 0.06 3.36 ± 0.60
10.30 ± 0.85 0.35 ± 0.07 3.95 ± 0.52
 The Journal of The Textile Institute 507

Table 7. Tensile property of single degummed fibroin filament swollen and reeled in SAEW.

Shift at Energy at Tensile strain at

Maximum load maximum load maximum load maximum load
Reeling/degumming Sampling group (cN) ±SD (mm) ±SD (mJ) ±SD (%) ±SD
TRM/NS 3rd 6.396 1.058 4.412 0.209 0.194 0.041 46.236 1.738
TRM/NS 4th 5.913 0.698 4.476 0.093 0.183 0.024 46.964 1.636
TRM/NS 5th 5.194 0.536 4.006 0.219 0.144 0.025 42.134 1.855
TRM/NS Mean 5.835 0.764 4.298 0.174 0.174 0.030 45.112 1.743

SAEW/NS 3rd 6.007 0.518 4.300 0.136 0.178 0.023 45.601 1.662
SAEW/NS 4th 6.212 0.924 4.205 0.096 0.172 0.013 44.730 0.842
SAEW/NS 5th 5.790 0.247 5.526 1.499 0.196 0.027 52.188 5.664
SAEW/NS Mean 6.003 0.563 4.677 0.577 0.182 0.021 47.506 2.722

Note: TRM: traditional reeling method; SAEW: pH 11.50 SAEW reeling method; NS: neutral soap degumming method.

3.5% of the whole cocoon weight, which is less than a was not carried out. So, the duration of cocoon cooking
quarter of the total amount of sericin surrounding the at a lower temperature of SAEW is the key factor.
fibroin in the cocoon. This is why the tensile properties
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It is well known that during conventional cooking, the

of degummed silk fibroin filament from the raw silk
reeled in SAEW have no obvious decline, which means
that most of the residual sericin surrounding raw silk
play a protection role in the SAEW.
Discussion
The TRM reeling process is a manual reeling method
very similar to the reeling process used in commercial
automatic reeling machines, which involves penetration
of water into the cocoon at high temperature (98°C) or
low temperature (70°C). Cooking and softening allow
water to penetrate into the cocoon layer and induce
sericin swelling; when the required amount of water has
entered the cocoon chamber, the cocoon is transferred
into warm water and the silk is wound onto a reel. In
general, it is well known that if too much or too little
water enters the cocoon, it will directly affect the thread
winding and reeling, and hence the quality of the raw
silk. When the cocoon cooked by TRM was cut open, we
observed that the cocoon interior was filled with water.
This result is entirely consistent with the values given in
Table 6 and it can be seen that the cooked cocoon is
between being semisubmerged and semifloating during
reeling (Figure the left of 3b). When the cocoon was
immersed in pH 11.50 SAEW for 15 min, the alkaline
electrolyzed water penetrated mostly into the cocoon
layer and only a little entered inside the cocoon chamber.
When the cocoon was cut open, we did not observe any
water within the chamber (Figure 3(a)), which is consis-
tent with the data given in Table 6 and the fact that the
SAEW-swelled reeling cocoon was floating on the water
(Figure 3(b)). Compared with TRM cocoon cooking
(100°C) for repeated times with ordinary water, cocoon
cooking temperature in SAEW need not to be so high, or
excessive swelling of the sericin layer, normal reeling
temperature variation and sometimes vacuum are created
to make the water penetration uniform from the outside
layer to the inside layer. However, cooking the cocoons in
the alkaline electrolyzed solution is entirely different from
the traditional cooking. It is maintained at a constant
temperature and there was no significant change of air
pressure inside the cocoon (see Figure 3). But the vibra-
tion in electrolyzed water can promote water moving from
the outside to the inside layer and sericin wetting and
swelling, then the swelled cocoon is transferred to the
electrolyzed water at the same temperature to reeling, seri-
cin of cocoon shell is wetting and swelling when reeling.
The machinery used for industrial silk reeling is fully
automated; however, there are some difficult problems to
be solved in relation to energy saving, removal of seri-
cin, and water recycling from the huge amount of waste
water generated by the reeling process. We describe a
novel reeling method using SAEW as a sericin-swelling
agent and production of a reeling soup that is much
easier, simpler, and more energy- and water-saving than
the traditional cocoon cooking and reeling method. The
SAEW reeling technology is a low-carbon, environment-
friendly, and efficient sericin-recovering reeling method
that is worthy of further testing.
Conclusions
Tap water can be electrolyzed to prepare pH 11.50
SAEW and the pH is stable for one month in an airtight
container. Silkworm cocoons immersed in SAEW at
70°C with shaking (120 rpm) for 15 min can be trans-
ferred into fresh SAEW of the same pH value at the
same temperature to begin reeling. The reeling scores
and tensile properties of raw silk fiber in SAEW were
very similar to, or slightly better than, those produced by
TRM. The novel aspect of the SAEW reeling method
 508 T.-T. Cao et al.

described here is that water penetrates into the cocoon Naik, S. V. & Somashekar, T. H. (2008). Effect of degree of
shell at a temperature lower than that used in the TRM. cocoon drying and cocoon cooking conditions on reeling
performance and quality of raw silk of Indian bivoltine
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