Patent ID: 8044177

Claim:
A process for preparing a water-soluble keratin derivative comprising processing of poultry feathers by the following: (a) contacting the poultry feathers with an alkali both to desulfurize and to solubilize the feathers in water, thereby forming a water-soluble component and a water-insoluble component; (b) separating the water-soluble component from the water-insoluble component by ultra-filtration to obtain a first water-soluble derivative with molecular weight of 10,000 to 50,000 (water-soluble keratin derivative I or MFP), and (c) irradiating the MFP with UV-C to obtain a second water-soluble derivative (water-soluble keratin derivative II or UVP) having increased lanthionines and decreased cysteines compared with MFP.