Biofibre production from chicken feather

Abstract

The global poultry industry generates at least 2 million tonnes of chicken feather every year. Feather fibre has potential as reinforcement for polymer composites with light-weight, thermal insulation and acoustic dampening properties. This study aimed to develop a process to produce clean fibre recovered from chicken feather. Raw feather was decontaminated by 0.15% sodium hypochlorite in 25 L water at pH 10.0 for two 30 min stages and cleaned by 0.15% hydrogen peroxide in 25 L water for three 30 min stages. Cleaned feather was comminuted in 300 L water using a centrifugal pump at 30 Hz impeller speed on full recycle for 4 h. Rachis and partially cut feather were removed using a 5 mm filter and fibre was recovered using a 1 mm filter. Wet fibre was dried in an air-forced oven at 70°C. Morphological studies revealed fibre surface remained intact after the treatment process.