Author(s)

Chung-Haur Lo^*, Yuchou Chao

Institute of Organic and Polymeric Materials, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei City.

This paper is to study a new method to remove sericin from raw silk fiber. This new process is done using an organic acid as a pretreatment and then using CO₂ supercritical fluid to remove sericin from silk fiber. This method would be a huge break from the traditional environmentally unsustainable methods used today. This new processing method keeps the removed sericin in a clean state that can be used as a highly marketable silk protein in the medical and cosmetic industries.

Silk, Sericin, Degumming, CO2 Supercritical Fluid

Lo, C. and Chao, Y. (2017) Degumming of Silk Fibers by CO₂ Supercritical Fluid. Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, 5, 1-8. doi: 10.4236/msce.2017.54001.