Perez-Puyana Victor M, Capezza Antonio J, Newson William R, Bengoechea Carlos, Johansson Eva, Guerrero Antonio, Hendeqvist Mikael S
Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Facultad de Química, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad de Sevilla, 41012 Sevilla, Spain.
Fibre and Polymer Technology Department, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 11428 Stockholm, Sweden.
Polymers (Basel). 2023 Jan 9;15(2):351. doi: 10.3390/polym15020351.
Keratin is a largely available protein that can be obtained from the ca. 3 million tons of feathers that the European poultry industry produces as a side-stream. Here, the functionalization of keratin from poultry feathers was evaluated using a one- versus two-stage process using two functionalization agents (succinic anhydride-SA and ethylene dianhydride-EDTAD). The functionalization resulted in the keratin having improved liquid swelling capacities, reaching up to 400%, 300%, and 85% increase in water, saline, and blood, respectively, compared to non-functionalized keratin. The highest swelling was obtained for samples functionalized with EDTAD (one-stage process), while the highest saline uptake was noted for samples processed with 25 wt% SA (two-stage process). Swelling kinetics modeling indicated that the water uptake by the functionalized samples takes place in two steps, and the EDTAD samples showed the highest diffusivity. It is demonstrated that the one-stage functionalization of keratin utilizing EDTAD results in better performance than two-stages, which allows for resource-saving and, thereby, protecting the environment. The results show some potential for the keratin to be utilized as liquid absorbent materials in water, saline, and blood uptake applications. Using keratin from side-streams is an advantage from a sustainability perspective over biomacromolecules that need to be extracted from virgin biomass.
角蛋白是一种大量可得的蛋白质，可从欧洲家禽业作为副产品生产的约300万吨羽毛中获取。在此，使用两种功能化试剂（琥珀酸酐-SA和乙二酐-EDTAD），通过单阶段与两阶段工艺对角蛋白进行功能化评估。功能化使角蛋白的液体膨胀能力得到改善，与未功能化的角蛋白相比，其在水中、盐溶液和血液中的膨胀率分别高达400%、300%和85%。用EDTAD功能化的样品（单阶段工艺）获得的膨胀率最高，而用25 wt% SA处理的样品（两阶段工艺）的盐吸收量最高。膨胀动力学模型表明，功能化样品的吸水过程分两步进行，且EDTAD样品的扩散率最高。结果表明，利用EDTAD对角蛋白进行单阶段功能化比两阶段功能化性能更好，这有利于节约资源，从而保护环境。结果表明，角蛋白在水、盐溶液和血液吸收应用中作为液体吸收材料具有一定潜力。从可持续性角度来看，使用副产品中的角蛋白比从原始生物质中提取的生物大分子更具优势。
