Application And Preparation Of Wool's Keratin Solution

As know in the art, waste wool and other animal hairs are important source of keratin protein; however, this great source has not been fully utilized for a long time. The basis of regenerating and applying wool protein is to prepare the keratin solution in advance; but, wool does not melt or dissolve, due to the particularity of its structure, and it only can be dissolved using appropriate solvents, after proper degradation. There are generally two main drawbacks in the currently reported methods of dissolving wool, one of which is the low efficiency of dissolving fibers; only the wool keratin solutions with low concentration, low viscosity, relatively low molecular weight and low conversion rate have been obtained; the other drawback is, as mentioned in many patents, the wool keratin solution needed to be concentrated, purified, and coagulated into wool keratin powder, through back-permeation, dialysis techniques, in order to facilitate the application in the subsequent processes. It is obvious that these problems have already impeded the effective utilization of the source of wool protein.This research was focused on the studies of wool keratin solution with high conversion rate, high viscosity, relatively high molecular weight and high concentration, and the investigation of the direct applications based on the dissolving methods. This research is related to two items of studying contents: (1) the preparation of wool keratin solution using Reduction-C method and the investigation on its application; (2) the preparation of wool keratin solution using metallic salt and the investigation of its co-spinning with PAN.The creative aspects included in this dissertation are listed below:1. The metallic salt ZnX2 or LiX and the reductive agent, mercaptoacetic acid, were composed as a solvent of wool keratin protein for the first time, and hence the unique solvent system for wool protein was formed, which might result in the wool protein solution having 100% conversion rate, the concentration as high as 25% by weight, the viscosity and molecular weight higher than the wool protein solutions produced by other methods, and can be used in the application field where there are higher requirements in viscosity and concentration. The optimal solvent composition in this method is LiX: mercaptoacetic acid: water =1:1:1.2. In this research it has been the first time to blend the wool protein solution with PAN and make them into blending film, and hence the blending fiber of wool keratin and PAN was obtained through wet-spinning method. This blending fiber has enough mechanical strength and dyeing property; therefore, this research results provided a new avenue to the application of wool keratin source and the development of new types of fibers.3. The wool protein solution, obtained with the Reduction-C method, has been directly applied in the setting finish process for the first time, without purificationprocess, and the effects were satisfactory; accordingly, a new way has been explored for the application of protein solution.