Environmentally Sustainable Fibers from Regenerated Protein

Abstract

Concerns for the environment and consumer demand are driving research into environmentally friendly fibers as replacements for part of the 38 million tonnes of synthetic fiber produced annually. While much current research focuses on cellulosic fibers, we highlight that protein fibers regenerated from waste or byproduct sources should also be considered. Feather keratin and wheat gluten may both be suitable. They are annually renewable, commercially abundant, of consistent quality, and have guaranteed supply. They contain useful amino acids for fiber making, with interchain cross-linking possible via cysteine residues or through the metal-catalyzed photocrosslinking of tyrosine residues. Previous commercially produced fibers suffered from poor wet strength. Contemporary nanoparticle and cross-linking technology has the potential to overcome this, allowing commercial production to resume. This would bring together two existing large production and processing pipelines, agricultural protein production and textile processing, to divert potential waste streams into useful products.

Intrinsically water-stable electrospun three-dimensional ultrafine fibrous soy protein scaffolds for soft tissue engineering using adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells

“…20 On the contrary, only smear with gradient shade from 3 to 100 kDa, instead of obvious bands could be found in the NaOH treated sample. Fig.…”

Investigation into Physical and Mechanical Properties of Few Selected Chicken Feathers Commonly Found In Nigeria

“…Keratin consists of amino acids but largely made up of crytine, lysine, proline and serine [5], [6]. These amino acids tends to cross-link with one another by forming disulphide or hydrogen bonds resulting in fibres that are tough, strong, light weight and with good thermal and acoustic insulating properties [4], [7]. The unique characteristics of keratin have prompted interest in investigating the use of waste chicken feathers for a number of potential applications.…”

Challenges for Natural Monomers and Polymers: Novel Design Strategies and Engineering to Develop Advanced Polymers

“…Polysaccharides (cellulose [30,31], starch [32,33], chitin and chitosan [34]) and proteins (soya protein, gelatin, casein, etc. [35][36][37]) have found innumerable applications in biodegradable products. In nature there is a plethora of natural enzymes for degrading natural polymers.…”

“…Whereas wool exhibits an α-helical secondary configuration, silk assumes an extended chain β-configuration. Collagen [36,37], the main constituent of skin and hides, is the main source for gelatin and leather. While gelatin is a degraded form of collagen, leather is produced by tanning of hides.…”

“…Several articles have highlighted the importance of biodegradable polymer matrix in the development and use of composite materials [15,36,[276][277][278][279][280][281][282][283][284][285][286][287][288][289][290]. Recent advances in polymer blends and composites from renewable resources and their potential applications have been reviewed recently by Yu et al [276].…”