SBIR-STTR Award

Keratin is an intracellular protein in animal-body parts such as hairs wool nails skins feathers hooves claws and others. They are a considerable part of slaughtering wastes brought into rendering plants and mostly disposed of at landfills causing environmental issues such as CH4emissions. The global keratin market is expected to grow considerably over the next 5 years primarily due to its increasing demand in the personal care and cosmetic industry. Keratin has favorable cares on skin and hair such as anti-aging and rejuvenating effects. However the current commercial extraction process is based on chemical methods using a large volume of toxic chemicals and the process is time-consuming. It is not sustainable for a long term. Our objective is not to use chemicals in extracting keratin but to use thermal hydrolysis as an alternative process thus reducing the production cost and environmental impacts of the current extraction processes. Extracted keratin hydrolysates will be recovered by our anti-fouling ultra filtration system. In particular we will attempt to preserve the cystine residues in the extracted keratin which has not been reported in the literature. Cystine is the important structural element for forming coiled coils in keratin fibrils. The anticipated results would be significant reduction of undesired animal body waste disposals and also sustainable productions of affordable keratin-based cosmeceuticals and biomedical products leaving less environmental footprints. In the mean time the rendering industry can practice more sustainable operations by recycling undesired animal body parts contributing to the circular economy and receiving new revenue stream at the same time.