Silk Production Takes a Walk on the Wild Side

A newly discovered technique may make the unraveling process easier, and help the silk industry expand to new regions beyond Asia, according to a study in the journal Biomacromolecules.

Researchers from England and Kenya have discovered a way to remove the mineral layer that coats the cocoons of wild silkworms using an acidic solution. Removing this layer makes it easy to unfurl long strands of silk from the cocoons, the study’s authors report.

They tested out a variety of solutions, with the goal of finding one that removed the mineral layer without harming the silk.

“You want to use chemicals to demineralize, but you don’t want to use nasty ones, and you don’t want to use ones that will damage the silk quality,” said Fritz Vollrath, a zoologist at the University of Oxford and one of the study’s authors.

Because the textures and colors of wild silks differ from those of silk produced by domesticated worms, wild silk could be highly valued by the fashion industry, he said.

The method could also lead to greater silk production in Africa and South America, where the climate is well suited for wild worms. Presently, the silk industry is concentrated in China and India.

“Silk uses very little space, and it’s a very high-value product,” Dr. Vollrath said. “As an agricultural product it really, seriously offers something to regions of poverty.”

He and his colleagues are seeking a patent for their technique.