APR 05

Chicken feathers, as unlikely as it seems, have turned out to be a wonderfully useful material.  Among other things, researchers have found they make for great circuit boards and cheap, efficient storage tanks for hydrogen.  Now it turns out they could also be used to create biodegradable, petroleum-free plastics.

Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln say that the protein keratin in chicken feathers, which is strong and durable, as well as the fact that so many of them end up as unused waste, is what makes them such an appealing material.  When making the plastic, the scientists heat-treated the feathers to clean them and then pulverized them into a fine powder.  They then added chemicals that made the keratin molecules join together into long chains and create a polymer.

The resulting plastic was stronger than other bioplastics made of soy beans or starch and it stood up to water.  The material is a thermoplastic which means that heat can be used to mold it into various products and can be melted and remolded many times.  It could be used for plastic plates and cups or even furniture and when those things are no longer usable, the plastic is biodegradable.

via Physorg

Comments (11)

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written by hariprabhu k, April 06, 2011

Hope it comes in to use very quickly......

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What kind of chemicals?
written by Cheryl, April 06, 2011

the problem with these bio-plastics is they are still not bio-degradable, in that, they still may leach unsafe chemicals into our ecosystems and bodies.

let's be smart. there is no substitute for reusing materials without having to melt them down over and over again. Reduce, reuse. Reduce, reuse. Recycling should be a very rare occurrence because we are being more intelligent about what kinds of materials we use for things. Snacks, birthday parties. Use reusables. Wash the dishes, share dishes. Medical supplies? Ok, recycle.

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How interesting!
written by Jean, April 06, 2011

Plastic is unfortunately seen as the "villain" by environmentalists. Hopefully, cleaner, biodegradable plastics such as that will lead to a compromise. However, it will be many years until plant- and animal-based plastics are used in lieu of petroleum-based plastics. How much waste is formed when creating chicken feather plastic compared to the waste created when petroleum-based plastics are formed?

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written by I_so_bel, April 07, 2011

Considering the number of chickens being slaughtered everyday for food consumption and the huge amount of feathers that are left afterwards, I'd say making their feathers into biodegradable bags is quite okay.

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written by sarah, April 08, 2011

pump the feathers filled with co2 down into the holes where all the oil was. in 300 years they'll turn into either diamonds or oil

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written by Camloops, April 10, 2011

There is a large supply of keratin available in the form of human hair, fingernails and toenails. It is criminal that this material is going to waste in dust bins, crematoria and other places.

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Chemicals
written by Bizz, April 12, 2011

"What kind of chemicals?" was the first thing that came into my head, too, Cheryl. That was a big alarm going off in my head. I agree that we need to stop thinking in terms of how to make "disposable" better. Rather, we need to get back to a time when we didn't know what that meant. Nothing is just disposable. There always seems to be a catch.

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Feathers
written by Norm 774, April 12, 2011

Good idea. Being biodegradable, so much the better. Reusable a big plus too.

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the amount of feather waste.
written by Flux, April 13, 2011

Keep in mind the waste of chicken feathers is "nearly 3 billion pounds of chicken feathers annually in the US." - Philip Proefrock-Biobased Circuit Boards from Chicken Feathers-Ecogeekhttp://www.ecogeek.org/alterna...n-feathers 03/06/10

That is a huge number, and it gives us a way to deal with that waste, while still creating what would have been created not using it.

I would rather people use more reusable items, but at least we are looking at alternatives.

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Biodegradable plastic feathers
written by SRMOR, April 14, 2011

It would appear that the chicken feathers would make
great material for trash bags.

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written by Ling, January 31, 2012

anyone have any ideas about how to make chicken feathers into fine powder? and what chemicals used to make keratin to form polymer?
thanks

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