Menu
The global production of poultry meat is estimated to be around 130 million tons and, only in Europe, 13.4 million tons of poultry meat are produced annually, yielding 3.1 million tons of feather waste.
Despite the huge amount of released feather by-products, the present recovery of useful raw materials, in particular keratin, from poultry feather is notably negligible.
Currently, in EU, poultry feather residues are generally burnt in incineration plants or disposed in landfills, requiring hazardous processes, which result in the production and spread of high amount of environmentally unsustainable products.
An eco-friendlier management of feather waste would not only protect the environment from biological hazards, but would also allow bio-valorization of feather keratin-based materials.
One of the barriers limiting the transition of feather waste management from linearity to circularity is represented by recurrent poor quality of products extracted from feather waste, which frequently do not meet the needs of the industrial scenario, discouraging possible investments in valorisation of feather waste.
KARATE is proposing a multidisciplinary approach to overcome this barrier, aiming at developing high quality products from feather waste keratin that can fit industries’ requirements.
One of the barriers limiting the transition of feather waste management from linearity to circularity is represented by recurrent poor quality of products extracted from feather waste, which frequently do not meet the needs of the industrial scenario, discouraging possible investments in valorisation of feather waste.
KARATE is proposing a multidisciplinary approach to overcome this barrier, aiming at developing high quality products from feather waste keratin that can fit industries’ requirements.
This project first proposes to develop an enzymatic method to extract keratin from feather waste, through screening and selection of efficient feather-degrading microbial strains, and optimize the feather microbial degradation by selected microorganisms.
This first biotechnological step is expected to provide high quality protein products, but to further progress towards their applicability in goods production, a toolbox of chemical strategies will be used by to achieve the devising of functional keratin-derived proteins and peptides with optimized chemical-physical properties.
The biocompatible and biodegradable skeleton of keratin, combined with the new functional properties introduced through structural modifications, will allow their use for the construction of eco-sustainable medical devices and smart textiles.
This project first proposes to develop an enzymatic method to extract keratin from feather waste, through screening and selection of efficient feather-degrading microbial strains, and optimize the feather microbial degradation by selected microorganisms.
This first biotechnological step is expected to provide high quality protein products, but to further progress towards their applicability in goods production, a toolbox of chemical strategies will be used by to achieve the devising of functional keratin-derived proteins and peptides with optimized chemical-physical properties.
The biocompatible and biodegradable skeleton of keratin, combined with the new functional properties introduced through structural modifications, will allow their use for the construction of eco-sustainable medical devices and smart textiles.
Despite the huge amount of released feather by-products, the present recovery of useful raw materials, in particular keratin, from poultry feather is notably negligible.
Currently, in EU, poultry feather residues are generally burnt in incineration plants or disposed in landfills, requiring hazardous processes, which result in the production and spread of high amount of environmentally unsustainable products.
An eco-friendlier management of feather waste would not only protect the environment from biological hazards, but would also allow bio-valorization of feather keratin-based materials.
KARATE will, indeed, offer an alternative feather use reducing harmful incineration (SDG13)
or landfill disposal (SDGs6,14,15), promoting innovation,
and more responsible consumption and production (SDGs9,12).
It will specifically target materials for healthcare and wellbeing (SDG3).
Finally, KARATE will promote quality education to the young researchers involved (SDG4)
and will ensure equal opportunities (SDG5).
