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This work focuses on introducing new sustainable chemicals in the wool grease removal processes by aiming to understand the effect of an eco-friendly solvent, cyclopentyl methyl ether (CPME), in solvent-based wool grease extraction and, in addition, the impact of the wool protein hydrolyzate (WPH) as a biosurfactant derived from green hydrolysis in the wool scouring process. In the green solvent extraction process assisted using solvent CPME, the effect of CPME on grease extraction and the presence of four primary fatty acids were evaluated and compared with conventional solvents. The quantity of grease extracted using green solvent CPME was more significant than the conventional solvents. An extraction using green solvent CPME resulted in 11.95% extracted wool grease, which is more when compared with 8.19% hexane and 10.28% diethyl ether. The total quantity of four fatty acids was analyzed and found to be ~15% for CPME ~17% for Hexan compared with ~20% for commercial lanolin. FTIR of CPME-extracted wool grease exhibits primary and distinguishing bands similar to pure wool grease. Wool cleanliness efficiency was morphologically analyzed using SEM, resulting in no fiber degradation or surface alterations. These analyzes indicated that CPME has the potential to be claimed as an effective green alternative to conventional solvents for the extraction of grease and fatty acids. In a sustainable scouring process, WPH was used as a biosurfactant, an eco-friendly alternative. Furthermore, scouring process parameters such as temperature, material-to-liquor ratio, and WPH concentration were optimized for efficient scouring. The wool samples scoured using WPH biosurfactant exhibited nearly similar whiteness and yellowness and washing yield compared with Biotex AL. These results comply with SEM analysis, which showed that WPH-scoured wool had an intact scale structure, a smooth fiber surface, and no wool grease layer. At optimum conditions, WPH reduced the residual grease content of Sopravissana wool from 22.29% to 0.30%, comparable to the commercial biosurfactant Biotex AL. Compared with conventional wool grease removal processes, the green solvent CPME and biosurfactant WPH were considered viable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly alternatives.

Low quality coarse wool from Italian sheep is a large biomass unavoidably joined to sheep farming and it is to be disposed or adequately managed. Management of shorn wool (from 14000 to 16000 tons/ year in Italy) mainly implies scouring processes and related costs. Waste wool scouring provides wool wax, further refied into lanolin, in 5-20% yield and washed low-quality coarse wools. Waste wool scouring would become profiable if scouring process optimization and further valorisation of lanolin could be associated to the scarcely remunerative non-textile uses of washed low-quality coarse wools. In this study optimization of waste wool scouring and wool wax/lanolin recovery by green solvent was carried out using cyclopentyl methyl ether in comparison with conventional solvents like diethyl ether and hexan. The extraction study shows that cyclopentyl methyl ether shows higher amount of grease extraction in comparison with conventional solvents. The presence of residual grease on wool samples after solvent extraction was analyzed using FT-IR spectroscopy and resulted in similar effiency of extraction in comparison with conventional solvents.

Wool grease is a valuable raw material for the food, perfume and cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. The extraction method is selected for wool grease extraction, which will allow extracting the maximum amount of it, but for a long time. The use of high-energy discrete processing as a method of preliminary processing of wool fibers to accelerate the wool grease extraction is proposed.The effect of the proposed intensification method on the wool grease extraction kinetics is investigated. It is found that the high-speed discrete processing increases the wool grease extraction rate, as evidenced by an increase in the reaction rate constant.The changes in the basic physical and chemical properties of the resulting wool grease under the influence of high-energy discrete processing are examined. It is determined that high-energy discrete processing enhances the wool grease quality.The mechanism of the intensifying effect of preliminary high-energy discrete processing of wool fibers on the wool grease extraction process is proposed., Представлены результаты изучения влияния предварительной высокоэнергетической дискретной обработки шерстяного волокна на скорость экстракции шерстного жира. Определены физико-химические свойства полученного шерстного жира: кислотное число, пероксидное число, температуры плавления и застывания, рН водной вытяжки. На основании полученных результатов представлен вероятный механизм интенсифицирующего воздействия высокоэнергетической дискретной обработки в процессе предварительной обработки шерстяного волокна., Представлені результати вивчення впливу попередньої високоенергетичної дискретної обробки вовняного волокна на швидкість екстракції вовняного жиру. Визначено фізико-хімічні властивості отриманого вовняного жиру: кислотне число, пероксидне число, температури плавлення і застигання, рН водної витяжки. На підставі отриманих результатів представлений ймовірний механізм інтенсифікуючої дії високоенергетичної дискретної обробки в процесі попередньої обробки вовняного волокна.