Protein Foaming Agent

protein foaming agent is a protein-based foaming agent which is mainly made from soybean residue protein and fluorocarbon surfactant FS-50. The foaming agent can be used in fire fighting and oil recovery applications.

Protein-based foaming agents can reduce surface tension, improve the stability and rigidity of foam, and prevent gas penetration. In addition, it can also make the protein molecules more evenly dispersed on the surface of foam and improve its air-entraining capacity.

The foaming ability of the foaming agent is highly dependent on its molecular structure, ionic strength, and pH. It can also be influenced by the kinetics of protein-protein and protein-water interactions.

Foaming agents are a kind of natural surfactants which entrain air in a water-based solution [12,36]. They are widely used in different applications such as detergents, soaps, and cleaning products.

The adsorption of proteins on the interfacial surface of air and water causes formation of a flexible, elastic film that entraps and retains air. Proteins such as albumen, which is derived from egg white, show good foaming ability.

Hence, the foaming capacity of biosurfactants such as surfactin, which is a protein-based biosurfactant, is of considerable interest in various applications. However, these biosurfactants are relatively expensive and often difficult to use. To solve this problem, this study designed a synthetic foaming agent using soybean residue protein (SRP) as the source of protein and FS-50 as a foam stabilizer. The foaming performance of SRP-based foaming agent was evaluated and optimized. The highest foaming property was obtained in the experiment when the optimum reaction parameters of pH and temperature were used.