Utilization of Raw Trimming Wastes to Fabricate Biocomposites

The leather sector is a by-product utilizer of the meat industry which makes use of animal skin as the raw material for further value addition. The processing of animal skin into value added leather material involves a series of operations and processes which leads to the generation of different types of wastes. These waste materials are often hard to treat and manage in an industrial scale. One such waste is the raw trimmings, which are generated through the beamhouse operations of leather processing. The raw trimming waste generated in the beamhouse is rich in proteins namely collagen and keratin. The current study focuses on the development of single step process technology to utilize the raw trimmings by means of alkali hydrolysis. The resultant Cocktail Protein Solutions (CPS) has shown antioxidant properties of 38-58%, increase in activity with decrease in the alkali concentration. The foaming capacity found to increase with alkali concentration however the foaming stability declines at higher alkali concentration. The cocktail protein solution was combined with natural biopolymers to prepare bio-composite products such as sheets and films. The prepared bio-composite sheets showed tensile strength of 1.45 N/mm2 and tear strength of 6.38 N/mm. A simple and effective method has been developed to transform raw trimming waste into valuable material for footwear and other applications, promoting a circular economical initiative.