Ultrasonic technology for value added products from feather keratin

Abstract

Feather keratin is a biomass generated in excess from various livestock industries. With appropriate processing, it holds potential as a green source for degradable biopolymer that could potentially replace current fossil fuel based materials. Several processing methods have been developed, but the use of ultrasonication has not been explored. In this study, we focus on (i) comparing and optimizing the dissolution process of turkey feather keratin through sonication and conventional processes, and (ii) generating a biodegradable polymer material, as a value added product, from the dissolved keratin that could be used in packaging and other applications. Sonication of feather keratin in pure ionic liquids (ILs) and a mixture containing ILs and different co-solvents was conducted under different applied acoustic power levels. It was found that ultrasonic irradiation significantly improved the rate of dissolution of feather keratin as compared to the conventional method, from about 2 h to less than 20 min. The amount of ILs needed was also reduced by introducing a suitable co-solvent. The keratin was then regenerated, analyzed and characterized using various methods. This material holds the potential to be reused in various appliances.

Keratin Associations with Synthetic, Biosynthetic and Natural Polymers: An Extensive Review

“…Moreover, Yusof et al [68] studied the optimization of these keratin extraction processes with IL by comparing the use of conventional mixing processes and the application of ultrasonic techniques for the dissolution of turkey feather in ILs or ILs associated with co-solvents. They demonstrated that the application of low-frequency high-power ultrasonic irradiation significantly improves the dissolution rate of feather keratin, decreasing the dissolution process time from 2 h to about 20 min, both applying pure 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride IL or a 2.0 M solution of IL in dimethyl sulfoxide.…”

Reactional ultrasonic systems and microwave irradiation for pretreatment of agro-industrial waste to increase enzymatic activity

“…Swine hair (1 g) was treated using an ultrasonic probe, comparing the micropoint and macropoint. The variables used were power (100%), pulse (3) and exposure time (15 min) using distilled water (100 mL) as a liquid medium in a 250 mL glass beaker (Adapted Azmi et al 2018). The tests were conducted in triplicate.…”

“…Because of the biotechnological importance of keratinases, several studies have been performed to improve the activity and to evaluate the conformational change of enzymes in general, when exposed to different reaction systems, including ultrasonic probe and bath and microwave (Ma et al 2011;Jin et al 2015;Mazinani et al 2015). Simple and efficient heating technologies increase enzyme activity and conformational change (Ma et al 2011); residue pretreatment techniques using an ultrasonic probe (Azmi et al 2018), makes the structures more accessible to microbial and enzymatic attack (Yusof and Ashokkumar 2015).…”

Reactional Ultrasonic Systems And Microwave Irradiation For Pretreatment Of Agro-Industrial Waste To Increase Enzymatic Activity

“…Because of the biotechnological importance of keratinases, several studies have been performed to improve the activity and to evaluate the conformational change of enzymes in general, when exposed to different reaction systems, including ultrasonic probe and bath and microwave (Ma et al 2011;Jin et al 2015;Mazinani, DeLong and Yan 2015). Simple and e cient heating technologies increase enzyme activity and conformational change (Ma et al 2011); residue pretreatment techniques using an ultrasonic probe (Azmi, Idris and Yusof 2018), makes the structures more accessible to microbial and enzymatic attack (Yusof and Ashokkumar 2015).…”