Keratin-basedNanofibres by

ElectrospinningCNR-ISMAC, Sede di BiellaC.so Giuseppe Pella, 16 – 13900 Biellawww.bi.ismac.cnr.it

KeratinKeratin high sulphur content proteinCysteine content: 7-20% of the total amino acids

Wool and Hair

Keratin proteins are abundant in nature…….

Feather Horns, Nails

> 5.000.000 tons/year of keratin wastes fromBy-products of the textile industryPoor quality raw wool not fit for spinningHairs and feathers from butchery

KERATIN WASTES: KERATIN WASTES: RenewableRenewable SourceSource

Sede di Biella

AIMAIMNanofibreNanofibre NonNon--WovensWovensKeratinKeratin fromfrom WoolWool

[1] P. Kar and M. Misra, J. Chem. Technol Biotechnol, 2004, 79, 1313-1319

[2] X. Huang, Y. J. Wang and Y. H. Di, Textile Research Journal, 2007, 77(12), 946-950

Properties of regeneratedwool keratin

Heavy metals binding [1]Formaldeyde absorption [2]

Nanofibre non-wovensproperties

High surface/volume ratioHigh porosity

Filtration System

Air Cleaning from VOC’s

Water depuration: especiallyremoval of ultrafine particles and

heavy metals

Sede di Biella

NanofibresNanofibres byby electrospinningelectrospinning

Electrospinning plant in the ISMAC-Biella laboratory

Sede di Biella

RegeneratedRegenerated KeratinKeratin::Poor mechanical properties

Non-Thermoplastic Common solvent use(volatile)

Polymer Blend

Electrospinning

NanofibreNanofibreNonNon--WovenWoven

Regenerated Keratinin Formic Acid

15% wt

++

Polyamide 6in Formic Acid

15% wt

BlendsBlends0/1000/10010/9010/9030/7030/7050/5050/5070/3070/3090/1090/10100/0100/0

Sede di Biella

Blend solutiondecanted overnight Cryogenically fractured sections of blend films

Viscosity

Immiscibility betweenkeratin and polyamide 6

∑=i

iiT lnwln ηη

component i ofviscosity solutionitycosvis ltheoretica

component i the of fraction weightw

thi

T

thi

===

ηη

Additivity Rule

SolutionSolution PropertiesPropertiesSede di Biella

NanofibreNanofibre MorfologyMorfology

Electrospinning Condition

Voltage 25kV, Flow rate 0.01ml/min, Electrode Distance 10 cm, Capillary 0.40mm

Beads

Sede di Biella

DiameterDiameter SizeSize DistributionsDistributions of of BlendBlend NanofibresNanofibresSede di Biella

Formaldehyde adsorptionFormaldehyde adsorption

(Cu(Cu2+2+))

mVCCq t

t)( 0 −=

AdsorbtionAdsorbtion capacity of metal ionscapacity of metal ions

qt (ppm): adsorption capacity at a given time

C0 and Ct : Cu2+ concentration (μg/l) initially and at a given time;

V: volume (l) of the Cu2+ solutions;

m:mass (g) of the nanofibrous mat.

Sede di Biella

Multijet electrospinningHigh voltage supply

(300 W)

Collector(50 cm x 50 cm)

Multiple-tip spinneretsPressurisedsolution feed

Sede di Biella

Research groupResearch group

Aluigi AnnalisaMazzuchetti GiorgioMontarsolo AlessioPatrucco AlessiaRombaldoni FabioTonetti CinziaTonin ClaudioVaresano AlessioVineis ClaudiaZoccola Marina

Sede di Biella

Funding and collaborationsCariplo Project “Fibers on Demand”in collaboration with: Università di Genova,

Stazione Sperimentale per la Seta

FIRB (Fondo per gli Investimenti della Ricerca di Base), D.M. 21 febbraio 2007, prot. n. 234/Ric./2007, Cod. RBIP06HF8S.

LATT “Laboratorio di Alta Tecnologia Tessile” (Regione Piemonte)

HI-TEX (Regione Piemonte)

Industrial partners:Filatura Marchi SpACobarr Centro Ricerche SpASAATI SpAARA SpADe Martini SpANuova ROJ Electrotex S.r.l.Soft N.W. S.r.l.

Research partners:Politecnico di Torino, Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering

Sede di Biella

Future WorkFuture WorkSimplify the keratin extraction method and improve the extraction yield

Increase the keratin content (in order to improve the adsorption performances);

Improve the mechanical properties of the keratin-based filters

Test keratin based nanofibres as scaffolds for cell growth

Study of the multijet electrospinning process to have data for the scale-up

Sede di Biella