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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Bioproducts Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #409649
Research Project: Zero Waste Agricultural Processing

Location: Bioproducts Research

Title: Dehydration of collagen hydrogel simply by immersion in sodium carboxymethylcellulose solution

Author
item YU, ZHE - Jiangnan University
item WU, JINGMIN - Jiangnan University
item MA, YUXIN - Jiangnan University
item ZHU, KHAIDI - Jiangnan University
item LI, JIAN - Jiangnan University
item Chiou, Bor-Sen
item LIU, FEI - Jiangnan University

Submitted to: Food Hydrocolloids
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/14/2024
Publication Date: 3/14/2024
Citation: Yu, Z., Wu, J., Ma, Y., Zhu, K., Li, J., Chiou, B., Liu, F. 2024. Dehydration of collagen hydrogel simply by immersion in sodium carboxymethylcellulose solution. Food Hydrocolloids. 153.Article 110004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2024.110004.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2024.110004

Interpretive Summary: Collagen-based films are used in many medical applications, such as scaffolds in tissue engineering, and food applications, such as casing for sausages. However, the films require drying before use and various drying methods, such as hot air drying, require high energy consumption. In this study, we partially dehydrated the collagen films by immersion in sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) solutions. The dehydration was caused by differences in osmotic pressure between CMC solution and collagen film. The immersion process achieved up to 68% dehydration of the collagen films without affecting collagen structure. This resulted in approximately 18% reduction in drying time, saving both time and energy.

Technical Abstract: Pre-dehydration of collagen-based films can result in reduced energy consumption in their large-scale production. In this study, collagen hydrogel films were partially dehydrated by simple immersion in sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC). Three dehydration mechanisms were studied: electrostatic attraction, salting-out effect and Donnan equilibrium. The main dehydration mechanism was shown to be the Donnan equilibrium, which was attributed to the semi-permeability of the collagen membrane and the osmotic pressure difference at the collagen membrane interface induced by the CMC polyelectrolytes. Higher molecular weight CMCs resulted in more stable dehydration rates during a long period of immersion due to their greater difficult in passing through collagen membranes. CMC-induced dehydration did not change the collagen fiber structures. The new dehydration process increased the dehydration rate by up to 68% and reduced the time of hot air drying by at least 18%, saving drying energy and time. This study provides a new pathway for pre-dehydration of collagen-based materials, which can reduce the drying costs of collagen films, and also can help the design of collagen gel materials.