Open Access

ARTICLE

Influence of the Extraction Temperature on the Properties of Biopolymers Obtained from Tannery Wastes

M.A. Pérez-Limiñana^*, M.M. Sánchez-Navarro, M.J. Escoto-Palacios, F. Arán-Aís, C. Orgilés-Barceló

INESCOP, Center for Technology and Innovation. Polig. Ind. Campo Alto, s/n. Elda (Alicante) SPAIN.

* Corresponding author:

Journal of Renewable Materials 2016, 4(1), 3-8. https://doi.org/10.7569/JRM.2015.634119

Abstract

The tanning i ndustry generates very large quantities of industrial wastes. The advancement of European policy and legislation protecting the environment has prompted the transformation of tannery solid waste materials into valuable co-products, useful to be recycled or employed in other industries. The objective of this work is to obtain gelatine from tannery wastes, in order to reuse it as natural microencapsulating agent in the production of active materials with functional properties. Concretely, this paper focuses on the influence of the extraction temperature on gelatine properties and its microencapsulating ability. An alternative enzymatic pre-treatment to the conventional alkaline one is proposed in order to save costs and reduce time, as well as to reduce the environmental impact. Gelatines with different characteristics and functional properties could be successfully extracted from enzymatically pre-treated tannery wastes. The optimisation of the extraction temperature allowed tannery wastes to be recycled by obtaining medium grade gelatine suitable for microencapsulation purposes.

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Keywords

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