US
scientists have developed a method to turn chicken feathers into plastic
products and are working on bringing the technology closer to the marketplace.
Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) scientist Walter Schmidt developed the technology to
clean feathers and separate them into chopped fibres and quill pieces. Now
Schmidt and fellow ARS chemist Justin Barone have developed and applied for a
patent for a process to convert cleaned and chopped feather material into
plastic products on a laboratory scale.
The
feather-derived plastic can be moulded just like any other plastic and has
properties very similar to commodity plastics such as polyethylene and
polypropylene. This makes the feather-derived plastic a unique material for
packaging or any other application where high strength and biodegradability are
desired.
The
method could be a solution to the approximately four billion pounds of feathers
which are generated each year during the poultry production process. This new
application not only is a solution to an environmental problem, but also
cost-effectively enhances the commercial and economic value of feathers.
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