Bryan Wattie, M. Dumont, M. Lefsrud
2016
Citations
0
Influential Citations
5
Citations
Journal
Journal of Polymers and the Environment
Abstract
Oleic acid was used to modify keratin extracted from chicken feathers by free radical initiated graft copolymerization. Thereafter, the modified keratin was used for the synthesis of cryogels. The influence of oleic acid modification, the crosslinker content, and the protein concentration on the properties of the cryogels were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, SDS-PAGE, and through oil holding capacity tests. To enhance the sorption properties, the cryogels were crosslinked with glutaraldehyde. Varying protein concentration from 1.27 to 5.09 wt% and glutaraldehyde concentration from 0 to 5 wt% produced cryogels with oil holding capacity ranging from 4.56 to 10.76 g/g. The highest results exceeded the sorption capacity of previously published oleic acid modified woodchips (6.3 g/g) as well as polypropylene (6 g/g), which is the standard material used in industry.