Treatment of keratin-containing biological materials
AssigneeWool Research Organisation of New Zealand, Inc.
InventorsSubasinghe Nissanke George Premalal Jayantha Dias, Alaa El-Din Ahmed Bekhit, Luxmanan Selvanesan, Harold Stephen Bernhardt
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Abstract
The present invention provides methods for extraction of amino acid-rich fractions from keratin-containing biological materials, and to amino acid-rich protein fractions generated by the methods described herein. The methods involve forming a reaction mixture with keratin containing material at a pH of 1.1 to 6.9. The reaction mixture is exposed to an energy source, such as microwaves, sufficient to degrade the keratin. The amino acid mixture which is subsequently extracted is substantially insoluble.
Claims25
A method for extracting an amino acid-rich fraction from a keratin-containing biological material, the method comprising steps of:
- i. providing a reaction mix comprising the keratin-containing biological material and at least one acid, wherein the pH of the reaction mix is between pH 1.1 and 6.9;
- ii. exposing the reaction mix to an energy source to apply a temperature between 110° C. and 200° C. and a pressure between 75 and 220 psi for a time sufficient to cause degradation of the keratin-containing biological material in the presence of the at least one acid to extract an amino acid-rich fraction, wherein the at least one acid is selected from ascorbic acid, citric acid, acetic acid, benzoic acid, propionic acid, formic acid, sorbic acid, maleic acid and qallic acid;
- and
- iii. extracting the amino acid-rich fraction from degraded keratin-containing biological material
- wherein, the amino acid-rich fraction extracted from the keratin-containing biological sample is substantially insoluble.
An amino acid-rich fraction obtained according to a method comprising:
- i. providing a reaction mix comprising the keratin-containing biological material and at least one acid, wherein the pH of the reaction mix is between pH 1.1 and 6.9;
- ii. exposing the reaction mix to an energy source to apply a temperature between 110° C. and 200° C. and a pressure between 75 and 220 psi for a time sufficient to cause degradation of the keratin-containing biological material in the presence of the at least one acid to generate a substantially insoluble amino acid-rich fraction, wherein the at least one acid is selected from the group consisting of ascorbic acid, citric acid, acetic acid, benzoic acid, propionic acid, formic acid, sorbic acid, maleic acid and qallic acid;
- and
- iii. extracting the amino acid-rich fraction from degraded keratin-containing biological material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.