Abstract
The study aims at reusing and recycling the protein hide waste from the leather industry in ecological conditions by elaborating an innovative procedure in order to obtain a collagen matrix functionalized with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) nutrients to be used for preparing smart fertilizers. This is an interdisciplinary approach, as it starts from hide waste raw material as a critical industrial waste, which is then subjected to several technological steps by selection of optimal processing parameters, followed by product fabrication at the laboratory, and next scales to the industrial pilot plant to obtain novel agro-hydrogels. In this context, the technology scheme for collagen hydrolysate with encapsulated nutrients was proposed and the process parameters were optimized by functionalization of agro-hydrogels with various natural and synthetic polymers, such as polyacrylamide, poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate-co-glycidyl methacrylate) copolymer, starch or dolomite. Based on the laboratory experiments, a pilot plant was constructed and tested. Taking as reference the collagen hydrolysate with encapsulated nutrients, the new fertilizers were adequately characterized by chemical analysis, determination of biodegradability and the degree of release of oxidable compounds in water. Based on the biodegradation mechanism and kinetic analysis of oxidable compounds release, adequate arguments are evidenced to demonstrate that these fertilizers can be applied for amendment of poor agricultural soils.
Highlights
At present the leather industry faces very high costs to treat and eliminate waste in order to comply with environmental requirements
Gelatin hide is subjected to acid hydrolysis in the presence of potassium phosphate, and the protein hydrolysate is functionalized with monomers or polymers, such as polyvinyl alcohol, acrylamide, maleic anhydride, cellulose, starch, dolomite, etc., in order to obtain smart fertilizers
This study is focused on recycling hide waste resulting from the leather industry by capitalising their valuable protein components to obtain efficient collagen-based hydrolysates as smart fertilizers for poor soils amelioration
Summary
At present the leather industry faces very high costs to treat and eliminate waste in order to comply with environmental requirements. In this context the strategy is to treat the organic waste. Leather waste is a valuable protein source for diverse areas, such as the automotive industry, animal growth, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, etc. These organic biopolymers are valuable raw materials for agriculture, since their protein waste matrix provides useful elements to ameliorate the composition of poor and degraded soils, and many plants can benefit from elements found in the recycled leather such as nitrogen, magnesium, potassium, etc. The leather industry generates large amounts of waste, meaning more than
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