Casein Extraction from Milk: Utilizing kitchen materials as a source of biodegradable plastic

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Plastics are used because they are easy and cheap to make and they can last a long time. Unfortunately, these became a wide problem because they were not disposed of properly and could harm and pollute the environment. Casein is a family of related phosphoproteins which has a wide variety of uses, from being a major component of cheese to being used as a food additive. The most common form of casein is sodium caseinate. However, previous studies have shown that these casein proteins usually bind and create a lattice that is similar to polymers.

METHODS

The study used an experimental research design where five attempts were employed to know which temperature and amount of vinegar can form plastic from one liter of milk. The peak of the yield was in 50 ̊C. This temperature is slightly higher than that of the room temperature. It can also be observed that the yield in both ends of the temperature listed has the lowest yields. The coldest temperature yielded only 27 grams of casein, while the highest temperature, which is also the boiling point (100 ̊C), has only 29 grams. The amount of acid used in coagulating the milk components is also studied. Given the desired temperature which is 50 ̊C, a test on the amount of vinegar is then made. Another 5 sets of milk with different amount of vinegar are subjected to casein extraction. The yield of casein declined dramatically with among of vinegar added to the heated solution. The resultant casein derived from the best temperature set-up and best vinegar amount were molded into different shapes. The lumped shaped were then allowed to dry up. After a series of observation to the output, it was found that the molded shapes harden across time.

RESULTS

It was found that to extract casein from milk, there are parameters needed to be observed such as temperature and amount of vinegar that will be added to the milk. During the experiment, it was found out that the optimal temperature to be used is about 50 ̊C while less vinegar (5tbs) tends to derive a higher yield of casein.

DISCUSSIONS

The final output of the experiment proved that casein will dry up and become harder across time. It is recommended that this mini set up can be adapted into large scale production of casein from milk to attain a significant amount of resources for biodegradable plastic. The challenge of solid waste management can easily be done if the plastics that are being used in our daily lives are made up of simple materials such as casein from milk.