Bioinspired Processing of Keratin into Upcycled Fibers through pH-Induced Coacervation.

ABSTRACT: Keratin is an important byproduct of the animal industry, but almost all of it ends up in landfills due to a lack of efficient recycling methods. To make better use of keratin-based natural resources, the current extraction and processing strategies need to be improved or replaced by more sustainable and cost-effective processes. Here, we developed a simple and environmentally benign method to process extracted keratin, using HCl to induce the formation of a coacervate, a separate aqueous phase with a very high protein concentration. Remarkably, this pH-induced coacervation did not result in the denaturation of keratin, and we could even observe an increase in the amount of ordered secondary structures. The low-pH coacervates could be extruded and wet-spun into high-performance keratin fib

SUBMITTER: Sun J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9906721 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature