Slaughterhouse Waste Animal Materials Can Produce Colloidal Fiber Textiles

It is said that this colloidal fiber is even comparable to the natural Merino fiber, and the production method is also very environmentally friendly, resulting from the recycling of animal waste in slaughterhouses.

This process was developed by a student from the Swiss Polytechnic Institute Zurich, Philipp Stössel, in cooperation with the senior fiber laboratory staff of the EMPA research institute of the Federal Institute for Material Testing and Development. The remaining animal cortex, bones, tendons, etc. of the slaughterhouse can be used as raw materials. The researchers extract collagen from it and convert it into an aqueous gel; after heating this gel and adding isopropyl alcohol solvent, the collagen precipitates The protein appears at the bottom of the solution. After removing the sediment through a row of syringes, the squeeze produced fine, almost "infinite" fiber drawing. These fibers finally passed through the conveyor bar through the "ethanol bath", and finally the fiber was hardened under the action of ethanol, and finally formed a textile type Line regiment. After these treatments, the gloss of the finished product is slightly higher than that of wool fiber, and it is more soluble in water. Therefore, St?ssel treated the product with epoxy resin to make the fiber tighter, and then treated with formaldehyde to become stronger, and then added lanolin to make it softer.

Now the team is working on finding industrial partners so that this process technology can eventually be produced on a commercial scale.