4. Tow mercerization 

In this type of mercerizing a rope of 400 or more yarns are wrapped around the beam. This type of beam is called balls. 8 to 10 of such balls are put on a stand and the each rope is un-wrapped from the each balls simultaneously. These 8 to 10 ropes of yarns are mercerized continuously in a manner similar to that of roller mercerizing of fabric. 

It is very important to appropriate twist the yarns forming a rope. High twist of yarn may lead to uneven mercerising. 

The instrument used in this mercerizing similar to the Indigo Rope dyeing machine or row of soapers.  

The tension on the yarn is controlled, and the shrinkage due to swelling during absorption of the alkali and the level of strain after this can be adjusted freely. 

Advantage: This type of mercerizing provide large amount of yarn with good quality. This mercerized yarn may be used for knitting purpose. However, in addition to producing a soft hand in the final product, this type of mercerization is very even, and so it is the best method for attaining level dyeing. 

Disadvantages: However, when treating several thousand threads of yarn at once at a rate of around 20m/min, it is difficult to ensure that each yarn is sufficiently mercerized in comparison to the single-end method.

The other problem associated with the equipment used is the separation of the yarns in the rope after it is dried at the conclusion of the mercerization process, and the way in which the yarns are unwound is very important for ensuring the smoothness of the operation. 

5. Warp mercerization 

While tow mercerization involves the treatment of a lot of yarn lined up in rope-form, in warp mercerization yarn is wound onto a beam and fed into a machine with the same system as in a slasher-sizing machine. Mercerization takes place with sheets of separate threads, and the machinery used can be exactly the same as that in tow mercerization. 

Thus, in the warp-beam method and the tow method, only the handling of yarn is different. In the tow mercerizing, yarns are handled in the rope form (having 400 or more yarn in one rope), while in the warp mercerizing the yarn are handled in sheet form. The penetration of alkali is more in the sheet form than tow form.

Disadvantage: The main problem associated with warp mercerising  is that during treatment the breakage of a single thread can lead to major difficulties, and so if the yarn is not of very good even quality, industrial implementation of this method is difficult.