Upcycling Poultry Feathers with (Nano)cellulose: Sustainable Composites Derived from Nonwoven Whole Feather Preforms

Abstract

Poultry feathers are low cost, abundant bioderived materials that are often regarded as waste. In this work, we report a simple method akin to papermaking to upcycle whole poultry feather waste into nonwoven whole feather preforms. This was achieved by utilizing (nano)cellulose fibers, namely, wood pulp and nanocellulose, as binders. It was found that the hornification between adjacent (nano)cellulose fibers trapped and held the whole poultry feathers together, producing a rigid and robust nonwoven whole feather preform. The preforms containing nanocellulose were found to perform better mechanically, with a tensile strength of up to 1.6 N mm −1 (at 20 wt % nanocellulose content), compared to preforms containing wood pulp. Feather− gelatin composites containing 23 and 47 wt % nonwoven whole feather preform loadings were also successfully manufactured. The resulting composites possessed a tensile modulus and strength up to 2.1 GPa and 18 MPa, respectively. This work also shows that the feather−gelatin composites could be easily deconstructed in hot water. The produced nonwoven whole feather preforms, as well as their feather−gelatin composites, could serve as a sustainable alternative for various semistructural applications, in line with the concept of a circular bioeconomy.

On the BET Surface Area of Nanocellulose Determined Using Volumetric, Gravimetric and Chromatographic Adsorption Methods

“…The high surface area of nanocellulose leads to large number of contact points between adjacent fibres, which in turn gives rise to cellulose nanopaper with superior mechanical properties over conventional paper (Mao et al, 2017;Kontturi et al, 2021) that can be used as two-dimensional reinforcement for polymers (Santmarti et al, 2019;Santmarti et al, 2020). The high surface area of nanocellulose also leads to higher coverage of micrometre-sized natural or waste fibres, binding them into robust and rigid fibreboards (Lee et al, 2014b;Fortea-Verdejo et al, 2016;Vilchez et al, 2020). Therefore, the reliable characterisation of the surface area of nanocellulose is important for the future development of nanocellulose-based advanced materials.…”

Nano/Micro Hybrid Bamboo Fibrous Preforms for Robust Biodegradable Fiber Reinforced Plastics

“…As CNFs are input, the breakage of BF/CNFs is converted from BF-oriented brittle fracture behavior to elastic and progressive failure due to the energy dissipation effect of the CNF bundle. Vilchez prepared chicken hair fiber/CNF preforms and confirmed that as the quantity of CNFs enlarged, progressive failure appeared, increasing tensile elongation [ 18 ]. This progressive failure behavior of the BF/CNFs by CNFs consequently contributed to a substantial surge in the BF/CNF preform toughness.…”

“…The mechanical properties of poly AESO/sisal preforms manufactured by thermal curing following vacuum-assisted resin injection are also extensively improved. It is known that the excellent binding and adhesion ability of these nanocelluloses can be clearly expressed in natural fibers, including sisal and silk fibers [ 17 , 18 ]. However, most of the research results indicate that bacterial cellulose was used as a binder [ 19 ], and there has been no effort to manufacture a hierarchical fibrous-composite preform using microfibers and nanocellulose produced from the same tree species.…”

Biodegradable Nonwovens with Poultry Feather Addition as a Method for Recycling and Waste Management

“…The mechanisms of degradation are not fully known [27,[29][30][31]. One of the initial theories was presented by Raubitschek [32], but this was discarded after the discovery of keratinase [33,34]. Other theories pointed to, inter alia, enzymatic keratin digestion by keratinolytic enzymes and the sulphuric amino acid metabolism of microorganisms as the basis of decomposition [35][36][37].…”