Increasing interest in competitive, sustainable, and biodegradable alternatives to petroleum‐based plastics has encouraged the developmentof protein‐based plastics. The formation of a homogeneous protein melt during extrusion occurs through: denaturation, dissociation, unraveling, and alignment of polymer chains. The presence of covalent cross‐links is unfavorable, decreasing chain mobility, increasing viscosity and preventing homogenization. Proteins have high softening temperatures, often above their decomposition temperatures. To avoid degradation, the required chain mobility is achieved by plasticizers. By understanding a protein's physiochemical nature, additives can be selected that lead to a bioplastic with good processability. The final structural and functional properties are highly dependent on the protein and processing conditions.

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Bloodmeal mixtures containing SS, water, SDS and urea were extruded and injection‐molded. Increased chain mobility with sufficient plasticization during processing increased the amount of available amino acids for strong water/protein interactions. Materials containing low water and increased SS had reduced tensile strength and elongation, compared to higher water at the same SS content. Materials containing three parts SS per hundred parts bloodmeal (pphbm), 60 pphbm water and 20 pphbm urea, were the only ductile materials after conditioning. Changing any one of these factors to a lower level will result in a brittle material. This mixture in combination with 3 pphbm SDS resulted in optimal mechanical properties (tensile strength of 9.6 MPa and Young's modulus of 534.9 MPa). magnified image

The livestock sector is a fundamental part of the modern global economy and provides food, clothing, furnishings, and various other products. So as to ensure its resilience to changes in consumer expectations, cost of production, and environmental sustainability, the sector must shift to a circular economy model. Current strategies to recover value from wastes and low-value co-products from livestock industries yield limited value; hence, new technologies are required to upgrade wastes and co-products, and generate high-value products that can feed into the livestock value chain. Anaerobic digestion can convert high organic-content waste to biogas for energy and a stable nutrient-rich digestate that can be used as fertiliser. Microbial technologies can transform wastes to produce nutritionally advanced feeds. New materials from waste can also be produced for livestock industry-specific applications. While aiming to add commercial value, the successful implementation of these technologies will also address the environmental and productivity issues that are increasingly valued by producers and consumers.