Pectinase is an important enzyme in industrial biotechnology and is widely utilized in industries producing food and beverages. In textile chemical processing, pectinase is utilized for a pretreatment of cotton called bio-scouring where it helps to increase the absorbency of cotton fabric and makes it suitable for further coloration. Various products based on pectinase are available in the market; however, the extraction of pectinase from a novel source which can meet the requirements of bio-scouring remains the quest of research. The present work deals with the isolation of fungus (Candida) from textile mill effluent for the extraction of extracellular thermostable pectinase. Optimization of temperature and pH of pectinase activity was studied. The crude enzyme extract showed efficient activity under the broad range of temperature and pH. The bio-scoured cotton showed an acceptable level of absorbency (absorbency < 3 s). The colour values of the dyed fabrics, scoured using conventional and bio-scouring, were comparable. The effluent load was lower for a bio-scouring process as compared to that of traditional scouring.

果胶酶是工业生物技术中的重要酶，并广泛用于食品和饮料生产行业。在纺织化学加工中，果胶酶被用于棉花的预处理，称为生物精练，它有助于增加棉织物的吸收性，并使其适于进一步着色。市场上有多种基于果胶酶的产品。然而，从能够满足生物精练要求的新来源提取果胶酶仍然是研究的追求。目前的工作涉及真菌的分离（念珠菌）从纺织厂的废水中提取细胞外热稳定果胶酶。研究了果胶酶活性温度和pH的优化。粗酶提取物在很宽的温度和pH值范围内均显示出有效的活性。经生物精练的棉花显示出可接受的吸收水平（吸收时间<3 s）。使用常规和生物精练方法精制的染色织物的色值相当。与传统的精练相比，生物精练过程的废水负荷更低。