Study on the Conversion of Wool Keratin by Steam Explosion

Abstract

A wool fiber sample was submitted to chemical-free steam explosion in view of potential exploitation of keratin-based industrial and farm wastes. Fiber keratin was converted into a dark-yellow sludge that was submitted to phase separation by filtration, centrifugation, and precipitation of the soluble materials from the supernatant liquid. The resulting products, when compared with the original wool, showed the extent of disruption of the histology structure, reduction of the molecular weight to water-soluble peptides and free amino acids, and change of the structure of the remainder of the protein associated with breaking of disulfide bonds and decomposition of the high-sulfur-content protein fraction.

Efficient and eco-friendly extraction of corn germ oil using aqueous ethanol solution assisted by steam explosion

“…The completion of high-pressure saturated steam releasing in an extremely short time could provide enough force to split cell wall and break the cellulose chain, and avoid a long time of violent treatment under high temperature. In recent years, the utilization of steam explosion has adequately expanded to variety biomasses, such as microalgal (Cheng et al 2015), wool (Tonin et al 2006) and feather Zhao et al 2012). Nevertheless, the report of using steam explosion in oilseeds for enhancing free oil yield is exceedingly limited.…”

Detoxification of Rapeseed Meals by Steam Explosion

“…It may be related to the heating effects of steam explosion. Proteins can be destroyed to become water-soluble peptides and free amino acids in the steam explosion process [28]. More amino acids may be detected in the samples treated by steam explosion than in controls.…”

Keratin-based Nanofibres

“…Recently, two chemical-free processes using just water and heat had been explored as methods of dissolving and converting keratinous materials (i.e. wool and feathers, respectively) : steam explosion (Tonin et al, 2006) and superheated water (Yin et al, 2007). Steam explosion is based on short time steam cooking of biomasses at a high temperature for several minutes, followed by explosive decompression.…”

“…Steam explosion is based on short time steam cooking of biomasses at a high temperature for several minutes, followed by explosive decompression. Using saturated steam at 220°C (~22 bar) for 10 min followed by a rapid decompression, wool fibres were disrupted into solid and liquid phases consisting of oligo-peptides, water-soluble peptides and free amino acids (Tonin et al, 2006). The second process consisted of treating feather barbs with superheated water at ~220°C and ~22 bar for 2 h followed by cooling.…”