title: Study on the conversion of wool keratin by steam explosion.
abstract: A wool fiber sample was submitted to chemical-free steam explosion in view of potential exploitation of keratin-based industrial and farm wastes. Fiber keratin was converted into a dark-yellow sludge that was submitted to phase separation by filtration, centrifugation, and precipitation of the soluble materials from the supernatant liquid. The resulting products, when compared with the original wool, showed the extent of disruption of the histology structure, reduction of the molecular weight to water-soluble peptides and free amino acids, and change of the structure of the remainder of the protein associated with breaking of disulfide bonds and decomposition of the high-sulfur-content protein fraction.
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAC, Italian National Research Council, Institute for Macromolecular Studies, Biella, Italy. c.tonin@bi.ismac.cnr.it
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tonin
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zoccola
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aluigi
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Varesano
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montarsolo
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vineis
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zimbardi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006358:Hot Temperature; D007633:Keratins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008958:Models, Molecular; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014935:Wool / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D007633:Keratins