Chicken feather dissolution to obtain keratin

Abstract The dissolution of chicken feathers was investigated to reduce solid waste and obtain keratin. For the first part, the effects of sodium sulfite (0.05–0.3 M), urea (0–4 M), temperature (50–85 °C), and incubation time (2–4 h) on feather dissolution were investigated via a factorial design. A...

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Main Authors: Vahidesadat Zebhi-Ashkezari, Mohammad Hassan Fazaelipoor
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer 2025-05-01
Series:Discover Chemistry
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/s44371-025-00169-0
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author Vahidesadat Zebhi-Ashkezari
Mohammad Hassan Fazaelipoor
author_facet Vahidesadat Zebhi-Ashkezari
Mohammad Hassan Fazaelipoor
author_sort Vahidesadat Zebhi-Ashkezari
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The dissolution of chicken feathers was investigated to reduce solid waste and obtain keratin. For the first part, the effects of sodium sulfite (0.05–0.3 M), urea (0–4 M), temperature (50–85 °C), and incubation time (2–4 h) on feather dissolution were investigated via a factorial design. Another factorial design was applied to investigate the effects of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) (0–0.02 M), lower ranges of urea (0.5–2 M), and incubation time (0.5–2 h) on feather dissolution. Keratin was precipitated from the solutions by ammonium sulfate, and characterized via FTIR and SDS‒PAGE methods. The results of the first part demonstrated the feasibility of feather dissolution in the presence of sodium sulfite, and the effectiveness of urea and temperature on feather dissolution. For this part, a maximum feather dissolution of 45.35% was obtained with sodium sulfite and urea concentrations of 0.05 M and 4 M, respectively, at 85 °C for 4 h. The results of the second part revealed a positive effect of SDS on feather dissolution. A maximum feather dissolution of 57.63% was obtained with sodium sulfite, urea, and SDS concentrations of 0.05 M, 2 M, and 0.02 M at 85 °C for 2 h. FTIR analysis confirmed the keratinous nature of the precipitated protein, and SDS‒PAGE revealed that the mass of the protein molecules was less than 15 kDa. This work confirms the feasibility of chemical dissolution of chicken feathers to obtain keratin as a useful product.
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spelling doaj-art-cfe50710ecbb418f833b6e8bc1f95c4f2025-08-20T01:47:32ZengSpringerDiscover Chemistry3005-11932025-05-012111010.1007/s44371-025-00169-0Chicken feather dissolution to obtain keratinVahidesadat Zebhi-Ashkezari0Mohammad Hassan Fazaelipoor1Department of Chemical and Polymer Engineering, Yazd UniversityDepartment of Chemical and Polymer Engineering, Yazd UniversityAbstract The dissolution of chicken feathers was investigated to reduce solid waste and obtain keratin. For the first part, the effects of sodium sulfite (0.05–0.3 M), urea (0–4 M), temperature (50–85 °C), and incubation time (2–4 h) on feather dissolution were investigated via a factorial design. Another factorial design was applied to investigate the effects of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) (0–0.02 M), lower ranges of urea (0.5–2 M), and incubation time (0.5–2 h) on feather dissolution. Keratin was precipitated from the solutions by ammonium sulfate, and characterized via FTIR and SDS‒PAGE methods. The results of the first part demonstrated the feasibility of feather dissolution in the presence of sodium sulfite, and the effectiveness of urea and temperature on feather dissolution. For this part, a maximum feather dissolution of 45.35% was obtained with sodium sulfite and urea concentrations of 0.05 M and 4 M, respectively, at 85 °C for 4 h. The results of the second part revealed a positive effect of SDS on feather dissolution. A maximum feather dissolution of 57.63% was obtained with sodium sulfite, urea, and SDS concentrations of 0.05 M, 2 M, and 0.02 M at 85 °C for 2 h. FTIR analysis confirmed the keratinous nature of the precipitated protein, and SDS‒PAGE revealed that the mass of the protein molecules was less than 15 kDa. This work confirms the feasibility of chemical dissolution of chicken feathers to obtain keratin as a useful product.https://doi.org/10.1007/s44371-025-00169-0Chicken feather dissolutionKeratinUreaSodium dodecyl sulfateSodium sulfite
spellingShingle Vahidesadat Zebhi-Ashkezari
Mohammad Hassan Fazaelipoor
Chicken feather dissolution to obtain keratin
Discover Chemistry
Chicken feather dissolution
Keratin
Urea
Sodium dodecyl sulfate
Sodium sulfite
title Chicken feather dissolution to obtain keratin
title_full Chicken feather dissolution to obtain keratin
title_fullStr Chicken feather dissolution to obtain keratin
title_full_unstemmed Chicken feather dissolution to obtain keratin
title_short Chicken feather dissolution to obtain keratin
title_sort chicken feather dissolution to obtain keratin
topic Chicken feather dissolution
Keratin
Urea
Sodium dodecyl sulfate
Sodium sulfite
url https://doi.org/10.1007/s44371-025-00169-0
work_keys_str_mv AT vahidesadatzebhiashkezari chickenfeatherdissolutiontoobtainkeratin
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