Way To Recycle hair that has been developed to break down keratins, transforming leftover wool and feathers into useful products.
Every year, textile and meat-processing operations generate billions of tons of feathers, wool, and hair. These materials are rich in keratin, the tough, fibrous protein found in hair, skin, and nails.
Converting this animal waste into useful goods, from wound dressings and eco-friendly textiles to health extracts, could benefit the environment and help build new sustainable industries. The bottleneck is protein upcycling: breaking proteins into their components usually relies on corrosive chemicals used in large, polluting facilities, which keeps an affordable process out of reach.
Researchers have identified fundamental chemistry that explains how proteins such as keratin de-nature in the presence of certain salt compounds. This insight could move protein recycling forward in a meaningful way.
They found that concentrated lithium bromide, a salt known to break apart keratin, acts in a surprising manner. Rather than binding directly to the proteins, as conventional wisdom suggested, it alters the structure of nearby water molecules, creating conditions that favor spontaneous unfolding.
This insight allowed the researchers to design a gentler, more sustainable keratin extraction process, separating the protein out of solution easily and without the need for harsh chemicals.
