Recovery of Silk Sericin from Soap-Alkaline Degumming Solution

Sericin is usually abandoned after the degumming process. However, it could be a valuable bioresource if an economically efficient recovery process could be set up. In this study, sericin was recovered directly from the degummed waste solution by adding calcium chloride, which induced the precipitation of the surfactant, sodium oleate, by charge interaction. The recovery yield was maximum when 10% of calcium chloride was added. Further increase in the calcium chloride concentration induced the precipitation of sericin. The recovered sericin had a molecular weight distribution similar to that of the hot-water-extracted sericin; but some highmolecular- weight sericin could not be recovered. The secondary structure and amino acid composition of the recovered sericin were similar to those of conventional hot-water-extracted sericin. We expect that sericin recovered from the degummed waste solution could be an alternative to the hot-water-extracted sericin, which is widely used in various applications.