Investigation of eco-friendly casein fibre production methods

The growing environmentally awareness of the consumers leads to a lot of new products in the textile industry. Either a sustainably produced textile or one which is created by reuse of a waste product is preferred. One possibility to create fibers from waste is using waste milk for casein fiber production. Opposite to several other biopolymers, however, spinning fibers from casein causes diverse problems. This article gives an overview of the investigations on how to produce fibres from the milk protein casein in a sustainable way, i.e. without formaldehyde or other polluting ingredients. Mechanical properties as well as water-resistance were investigated for chemical and physical modifications of the base composition. In this way, the positive influence of paraffin oil and wax as well as aggregation at high temperatures could be proven, while temperature treatment resulted in a higher E-modulus.