Chicken feather keratin: extraction, characterization and films preparation

The objective of this study was to extract and to determine the average molecular weight, the amino acids profile, and the thermal stability of feather keratin and the basic properties of the obtained films. The extraction, carried out with an aqueous solution containing urea, 2-mercaptoethanol and surfactant (pH 9.0), allowed the extraction of 94% of the keratin presented in the dry feather. The keratin molecular weights were determined by electrophoresis and ranged from 10 to 14,000 g mol-1. Thermogravimetric analyses of keratin showed that the extraction process did not change the degradation temperatures of keratin. The films of feather keratin presented lower tensile strength and about the same elongation at break than films of wool keratin cited by the literature.

feather; keratin; 2-mercaptoethanol; molar mass; amino acids; films