Enhanced keratin extraction from wool waste using a deep eutectic solvent

Oseweuba Valentine Okoro, Hafez Jafari, Parinaz Hobbi, Lei Nie, Houman Alimoradi, Amin Shavandi
2021 · doi:10.1101/2021.09.29.462276
preprint OA: closed CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
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Abstract

In this study, the solubilisation of waste coarse wool as a precursory step for the large scale valorisation of keratin was investigated using a green deep eutectic solvent (DES) based on L-cysteine and lactic acid. The investigation was undertaken via the response surface methodology and based on the Box-Behnken design for four process variables of temperature (70-110 °C), dissolution time (2-10 h), the mass of L-cysteine (0.5-2.5 g) in 20 mL of lactic acid, and wool load in the DES (0.2-0.6 g). The effect of variations in temperature was established to be the most significant process variable influencing keratin yield from waste coarse wool in the current work. An optimum keratin yield (93.77 wt.%) was obtained at the temperature of 105 °C, 8 h dissolution time, with 1.6 g L-cysteine in 20 mL of lactic acid using 0.5 g of wool. This study suggests L-cysteine and lactic acid as a green solvent with the potential to scale up keratin recovery from waste wool without significant destruction in the structure of the recovered keratin. Highlights Keratin recovery from wool using deep eutectic solvent was assessed The basis for the use of the new deep eutectic solvent was discussed The effects of the process variables on keratin yield were explored Keratin recovered was optimised and characterised.

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License: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0