Treating Bloodmeal with Peracetic Acid to Produce a Bioplastic Feedstock

Abstract

Peracetic acid is used to remove the color and odor from bloodmeal to produce a new bioplastic feedstock. The effects on bloodmeal molecular mass, crystallinity, thermal stability, solubility, product color and smell is investigated. 3 wt% PAA is the lowest concentration to sufficiently remove the odor from bloodmeal. Protein molecular mass is unaffected by PAA concentration. The crystallinity decreases from 35 to 31–27% when treated with 1–5 wt% PAA. Treating bloodmeal with 1–5 wt% PAA also reduces the protein's thermal stability, glass transition temperature (from 225 down to 50 °C) and increases its solubility in PBS, SDS, and sodium sulfite.