Keratin modified by thermal heating as a scavenger of formaldehyde

The aim of the study was to reduce the release of formaldehyde from wood materials by developing and testing new, more effective modifiers that bind formaldehyde or form more stable methylene bonds during polycondensation. Research was focused on the biopolymer keratin which can be found in hair, feather, wool, nails, hoofs, horns etc. For this study keratin samples were prepared from crushed horns by thermal heating during 1 hour at various temperatures from 150 grad C to 197 grad C. The X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses were used to identify changes in their surface chemical structure. The XPS spectrum of keratin samples has been shown to depend on the temperature of their thermal degradation, with the total amount of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur increasing with increasing temperature. (authors)