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Content archived on 2024-04-19

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION OF RAW SILK DEGUMMING PROCESS WITH RECOVERY OF ORGANIC PRODUCTS (SERICIN)

Objective

This project is aimed to test the employment of innovating technologies in order to recover sericin from the silk degumming baths (of yarn or fabric) to be then recycled into the production of pharmaceuticals and/or cosmetics. The recovery of sericin avoids the epuration costs of the discharged water and furthermore allows an improvement of the technological process of degumming.
The various tests made with the two pilot plants installed at FILTEX and PROVERBIO gave the following results:

a) degumming with autoclave (FILTEX)
The employment of ultrafiltration membranes with molecular cut-off of 20 kD allows to recover 90% of the sericin contained into the waste waters;

b) traditional degumming (PROVERBIO)
The employment of ion exchange fabrics, placed in series, and of ultrafiltration membranes, leads to a reduction of 92% of the original C.O.D. value of the bath (from 58600 mg/l to 4650 mg/l), with a consequent recovery of an oily phase and of pure sericin.

The conclusion of all the research developed until now is that sericin and other by-products can be recovered in an economically valid way, with the coupling of known and innovative techniques, attaining the benefits of a pollution reduction into the waste waters of textile industries and a presentation on the market of natural products, which otherwise would be dispersed.

This first stage of research presented anyway the need to go on with the optimization, where possible, of the sericin recovery process, acting with higher temperatures and in line with the degumming machines.
Besides the possibility of employment of these technologies in other similar sectors will be investigated.

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Topic(s)

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Call for proposal

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Funding Scheme

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Coordinator

Filtex Como Srl Tintoria Filati
EU contribution
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Address
Via Galvani 3
22070 Luisago Como
Italy

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Total cost
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Participants (7)