Abstract
Keratin is considered an important raw material in variety of applications, for example wound healing fibers, composites, foams etc. This valuable raw material is abundantly available but locked in wool, feathers, hooves, horn, hairs and other hard and soft proteinous component of animals. Nevertheless, abundantly available resources; extraction of keratin is tedious and expensive process. Therefore, continuous efforts are invested to develop fast, simple, affordable and scalable procedures. In this chapter different methods of keratin have been studied including hydrolysis, reduction, sulfitolysis, enzymatic treatment, microbial treatment, ionic liquids for extraction. Also, various parameters such as reducing agents, denaturing agents, time, temperature, enzymatic load, and concentration that may affect extraction have been reported. Hydrolysis and sulfitolysis with variable experimental conditions for dissolution are common and acceptable methods. This chapter provides details on basic and recent developments for these two processes. In-depth review suggests that mercatoethanol-based processes are now replaced with Na2SO3-based process and other supporting chemicals are going to be replaced with environmentally friendly ionic liquids.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Extraction of Natural Products from Agro-industrial Wastes
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
