JPH0489836A - Production of wool powder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a wool powder freed from the problem of coloration and odor emission, suppressed in chemical denaturation and decreased in the particle diameter by deteriorating a wool fiber with a proteolytic enzyme and mechanically grinding the denaturated fiber. CONSTITUTION:A wool fiber desirably having a length of 0.5-30mm is optionally scoured and deteriorated with 150-4000U/g of a proteolytic enzyme desirably derived from bacteria at a pH of 4.0-11.0 at 30-55 deg.C for 10-48hr and mechanically ground for 0.5-6hr to obtain a wool powder of a mean particle diameter of 10mum or below.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a novel method for producing wool powder.

(Prior art and problems to be solved) Recently, protein powder has been used in the fields of synthetic leather and fillers that utilize its properties as a protein, coating materials for surface modification, cosmetic materials that utilize its moisturizing properties, etc. Furthermore, applications are expanding and diversifying in the field of food materials and the like that utilize the harmlessness of natural proteins or the functions of their constituent amino acids.

Wool fibers belong to a protein called keratin, which is composed of various amino acids, mainly cystine, curtamic acid, loinine, and arginine. Therefore, if it becomes possible to efficiently powder wool fibers down to a fine particle size, it would be possible to use it in the same way as the above-mentioned protein powder.

Conventionally, wool fibers have been pulverized by direct mechanical pulverization methods such as impact type, compression type, shear type, air jet type, etc., or acid,
A method in which wool fibers are degraded by chemical treatment such as alkali and crushed by the above mechanical treatment, and furthermore, a method in which wool fibers are embrittled at low temperature using liquid nitrogen and crushed by the above mechanical treatment, etc. (performed by)

However, when directly mechanically crushed, the specific gravity of wool fibers is light, the elongation is large (25-35% in standard state, 25-50% in wet state), and Young's modulus is small (1
30-300 kg/cd), it is difficult to crush the
The pulverization rate decreased, and therefore, it was not possible to obtain powder with a fine particle size.

However, the quality is inferior due to problems such as heat generation during the crushing process, color development, and odor.)

Furthermore, when using acids or in combination with chemical treatments, wool fibers are acid resistant and do not easily deteriorate. In addition, when alkali is used, it deteriorates due to high concentration of alkali, but at the same time generates ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, making it impossible to obtain powder of industrially usable quality. .

Moreover, when low-temperature embrittlement is used together, liquid nitrogen must be used), which increases initial and running costs, making it impossible to produce wool powder at a low cost, and reducing the amount of wool that can be obtained. The powder has a relatively large particle size, and for example, it has been difficult to obtain a powder with an average particle size of 10 μm or less, which is often used as a cosmetic material.

(Purpose of husking) Therefore, the present invention can easily produce microscopic wool powder without the coloring and odor problems seen in conventional methods (and with extremely little chemical denaturation)! ! ! The purpose is to provide a method that can be used to create

(Means for Solving the Problem) As a result of intensive research to achieve the above object, the inventor Roha found that after deteriorating wool fibers using a specific protease (hereinafter referred to as protease), Mechanical crushing produces average grains that were previously impossible to obtain! j 10 ATM
The inventors have discovered that it is possible to obtain colorless and odorless wool powder with less chemical modification), and have arrived at the present invention.

That is, the wool fibers develop color and odor during the crushing process in step 5) mainly due to the action of heat. In other words, wool fibers are thermally decomposed to generate ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. When the temperature reaches 90° C. or higher, the amount of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide generated increases, causing color and odor. Moreover, it has been impossible to efficiently produce fine powder with an average particle size of 10 μm or less by using only mechanical pulverization.

Wool fibers, on the other hand, are generally strong against acids, but are extremely weak against alkalis, reducing their strength through decomposition. The decomposition of wool fibers by alkali occurs due to the cleavage of the guisulfide group in cystine, and as a result, wool fibers and sulfur are liberated. General j = the amount is
The sulfur content reaches nearly 50%. This results in coloring and odor. On the other hand, deterioration of wool fibers by protease (well, it occurs due to the cleavage of the peptide bonds of the amino acids that make up wool keratin, and does not involve the cleavage of cystine bonds, so there is no coloring or odor). Since the cutting is limited to the peptide bonds of some amino acids, there is no doubt that it will damage the properties of the wool fiber.

As a result of research into a method for reducing the physical strength of wool fibers without applying heat or generating heat, the present inventor has found that:
It has been found that the above object can be achieved by degrading wool fibers using a protease that has the ability to degrade wool fibers. The present invention has been made based on this knowledge.

The present invention will be explained in detail below.

In general, wool fibers vary greatly in quality, such as fineness and fiber length, depending on the type, such as fine hair type (collected hair type), medium hair type, long hair type, hybrid hair type, mixed hair type, etc. In the present invention, any wool fiber can be used as long as it is harvested from sheep.

Since wool fibers are loaded with natural impurities, such as wool grease and suint, which can act as inhibitors of enzymes, it is preferable to remove these by scouring when producing pure wool powder.

In addition, if wool fibers are used as they are, the enzymatic reaction tends to be uneven, so when considering the efficiency of the enzymatic reaction,
It is preferable that the wool W&fiber used be shaped into a length of 0.5 to 30 mm).

Any protease used in the present invention can be used as long as it cleaves peptide bonds between amino acids. Such proteases may be from any source such as fungi, bacteria, animals, plants, etc. However, if you want to achieve more effect in a shorter time than using pebun, trypsin, chymotrypone and papain,
Preferably, proteases of bacterial origin are used.

Proteases are usually used in the form of aqueous solutions.

In addition, within the range that does not harm the activity of protease),
Nonionic, anionic, cationic surfactants, and pH stabilizers consisting of buffers such as citric acid, phosphoric acid, boric acid, green, etc. may be used in combination).

Generally, the type and amount of protease used when treating wool fibers varies slightly depending on the properties of the wool fibers used. In general, the concentration of protease: ′! , 150U/g~
4000U/g is preferred1. ) The treatment conditions are generally pH 4.0 to 11.0, temperature 30°C to 55°C, and treatment time 10 to 48 hours.

The enzyme-treated wool fibers obtained as described above are thoroughly washed with water, and then, if necessary, treated with hydrogen peroxide for both bleaching and sterilization.

The enzyme-treated wool fibers are then subjected to a mechanical grinding process. As the crushing device, any device used for crushing can be used, such as an impact crusher, a grinding crusher, a compression crusher, and the like. The grinding time varies depending on the device, but for example, 0.5 to 6 hours, preferably 2 hours.
~4 hours.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited by these examples.)

Example 1 Merino seed wool was scoured by a conventional method and shaped into 2 mm using a guillotine cutter. Next, using a commercially available protease (manufactured by Rakuto Kasei, Enthiron 5A-100),
An aqueous solution with an enzyme concentration of 40 g/L, 40°C, pH 10,
24 under conditions of 0 (adjusted with M/10 glycine buffer)
The wool fibers were treated and washed for an hour. Then Chuo Kakoki ■
The wool fibers were milled for 1 hour using a Fine Vibrane Yon Mill manufactured by Co., Ltd.

Comparative Example 1 Example 1 was repeated except that no enzyme treatment was performed.

Comparative Example 2 The same treatment as Comparative Example 1 was performed except that the crushing time was 6 hours.

The results are listed in Table 1 below.

According to the present invention, wool powder having an average particle size of 10 μm or less can be obtained without subjecting the wool fibers to thermal or chemical denaturation.

Table 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] A method for producing wool powder, which comprises deteriorating wool fibers with a proteolytic enzyme and then mechanically crushing the fibers.