Textile Science & Engineering

The sericin is natural, eco-friendly, proteinous and biodegradable biopolymer which is obtained as byproduct from silk industries. The gummy sericin material has to be removed from raw silk in degumming procedure to give luster to silk. The sericin has number of useful application in various fields such as cosmetics, food, medical, membranes, biomaterials, etc. Hence, it is recovered as by product from silk waste or effluent of silk industries by various extraction methods. The present paper emphasize on sericin, especially on its chemical composition, sources, properties and extraction methods. Further sericin characteristics and applications have been also discussed one by one.