1. Tensile strain @max load (%) Tensile stress @max load (MPa)
Fig. 8. The dimensional measurements of chicken feather barbs and rachis
Fig. 8. The dimensional measurements of chicken feather barbs and rachis
Valorisation of chicken feathers waste: Characterization of chicken feathers
Tamrat Tesfaye1 Bruce Sithole1, 2 and Deresh Ramjugernath1
1Discipline of Chemical Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
2Forestry and Forest Products Research Centre, CSIR Natural Resources and the Environment, Durban, South Africa –
1. Introduction
Worldwide, the poultry–processing industry generates large quantities of feather by-products that amount to 40 billion kilograms annually. Economic pressures, environmental pressures, increasing interest in using renewable and sustainable raw materials, and the need to decrease reliance on non-renewable petroleum resources behove the industry to find better ways of dealing with waste feathers.
Fig. 7. Proximate analysis of chicken feather Fig. 8. Ultimate analysis of chicken feather
Utilisation of feathers: Present scenario
2.3 Thermal properties
Fig. 9. FTIR spectra of chicken feather Fig. 10. XRD of chicken feather
What to do with the more than 20 billion pounds of poultry feather waste generated each year?
2. Characterization of Chicken feathers
2.1 Physical properties of chicken feathers
Table 1. Fibre length distribution of chicken feather fractions Table 2. Diameter of chicken feather barbules, barb and rachis
Table 3. Dimensions of chicken feather fractions
Fig. 1. The dimensional measurements of chicken feather Fig. 2. Density of chicken feather
Fig. 3. Morphological structures of chicken feathers
Barbules
Barb
Rachis
Mean
4.92 µm
46.65 µm
2.26 mm SD
1.73 µm
34.37 µm
1.17 mm Cv
35.12 %
73.66 %
51.65 %
Barbules
Barb
Rachis
Mean μm
24.75 mm
92.13 mm SD μm
19.14 mm
55.28 mm
Median μm
25.31 mm mm Cv
38.84%
77.31%
60.01%
2.4 Mechanical properties
Fig. 11. TGA/DSC of chicken feather
Table 5. Mechanical properties of chicken feather
Part of feather
Slenderness ratio
Flexibility ratio
Barbs
530.55
57.62
Rachis
40.77
0.58
Part of feather
Max load (cN)
load (cN/Tex)
Tensile extension @max load (mm)
Tensile strain @max load (%)
Tensile stress @max load (MPa)
Barbs
12.40
0.67
1.00
Rachis --
3.79
4.73
1.65
3. Conclusions
The cost of the poultry processing industry to dispose of their feather waste becomes higher due to reduced availability of landfill space.
Chemical constituents, their cheapness (free availability) and ease of availability makes economical and environmental sense to maximize the use of chicken feather in the future.
Utilisation of feathers: Future prospects
2.2 Chemical properties
Table 4. Burning characteristics of chicken feather fraction
Fig. 5. Chemical resistance of chicken feather fractions Fig. 6. The swelling property of chicken feather
Chemical properties
Barbs/Rachis/Whole feather
Approaching flame
Smoulders and curls away from flame; ignites slowly
In the flame
Burns slowly /orange flame; sizzles and curls, no smoke
Away from the flame
Supports combustion with difficulty for short time
Odour
Burning rubber
Residue
Easy crushable black soft ash
Fig. 4. Elemental analysis of chicken feathers
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank thermodynamics research group/UKZN for the bursary and FFP/CSiR for arranging the lab facilities.