A facile way of making inexpensive rigid and soft protein biofoams with rapid liquid absorption

• A novel and facile method to produce inexpensive protein biofoams suitable for sponge applications is presented. The protein used in the study was wheat gluten (WG), readily available as a by/co-product, but the method is expected to work for other cross-linkable proteins. The foams were obtained by high-speed stirring of pristine WG powder in water at room temperature followed by drying. Glutaraldehyde was used to crosslink the foam material in order to stabilize the dispersion, reduce its tackiness and improve the strength of the final foam. The foams were of medium to high density and absorbed readily both hydrophobic and hydrophilic liquids. The foam structure, consisting primarily of an open pore/channel system, led to a remarkably fast capillary-driven (pore-filling only) uptake of a hydrophobic liquid (limonene). Essentially all uptake occurred within the first second (to ca. 90% of the dry weight). In a polar liquid (water), the rapid pore-filling occurred in parallel with a more time-dependent swelling of the foam matrix material. Further improvement in the foam strength was achieved by making a denser foam or adding TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibres. Soft foams were obtained by adding glycerol.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Industriell bioteknik -- Biomaterial (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Industrial Biotechnology -- Bio Materials (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Wheat gluten; Foam; TEMPO cellulose nanofibres; Plasticised; Absorption; Mechanics

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)