CSIRO is producing environmentally-friendly, renewable and biodegradable fibre out of keratin derived from chicken feathers
Concerns for the environment, rising oil prices, and the finite nature of oil reserves are driving research into ways to replace petrochemical products with bio-based materials.
Growth of the ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘organic’ markets reflects the increased interest and power of consumer demand for eco-products.
Combined, these factors are driving research into new environmentally-friendly fibres as replacements for part of the 38 million tonnes of synthetic fibre produced annually.
While much current research focuses on cellulosic fibres (derived from plants), a team at CSIRO headed by Dr Andrew Poole, considered that protein fibres generated from waste or byproduct sources should be explored.
They chose feather keratin as a possible new fibre source as it is:
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annually renewable
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commercially abundant
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of consistent quality
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of guaranteed supply.
Feathers are made of keratin, a tough chemical-resistant protein that is also the key component of wool, another natural renewable fibre, but with a different biochemical makeup.
Regenerated protein fibres from feathers
An estimated 5 million tonnes of chicken feathers are produced globally each year as a by-product of meat manufacture. The raw material is tough and chemically resistant.
Currently the feathers are either disposed of in landfill or processed to make a low-grade animal feedstock.
If this waste could be converted into fibre it would feed directly into the textile chain.
Dr Poole’s team believes that advances in cross-linking technology and use of nanoparticle reinforcing agents can be applied to regenerated protein fibres to improve tensile strength.
Previous commercially produced fibres of regenerated protein (1930 to 1950) were derived from milk, corn, soy or peanut protein. They demonstrated several qualities typical of protein fibres such as wool and silk; they were soft with excellent drape and could be processed on conventional textile machinery.
Their drawback was poor mechanical strength when wet. This problem together with the rise of oil-based synthetic fibres caused production to stop in the late 1950s.
Potential solutions
Dr Poole and his team believe that contemporary nanoparticle and cross-linking* technology has the potential to overcome this problem, allowing commercial production to resume, in response to growing consumer demand for eco-friendly products.
This would bring together two existing large production and processing pipelines:
The aim is to divert a waste stream into useful products.
To make a protein fibre for today’s market would require the wet-strength problem to be resolved.
Dr Poole’s team believes that advances in cross-linking technology and use of nanoparticle reinforcing agents can be applied to regenerated protein fibres to improve tensile strength.
‘The team has to first work out how to break down the molecular bonds between feather protein strands without breaking down the strands themselves’, Dr Poole said. ‘Once that is achieved, we have to straighten the proteins, align them, and re-bind them in a way that will form a durable fibre’.
Market potential
If their experimental results show the combination of nanoparticle fillers and cross-linking techniques produce fibres of acceptable strength, the regenerated protein fibres will have all the environmental and technical attributes required for success.
All elements of the supply chain are in place for their production: there is a guaranteed supply of materials from centralised locations and these materials are inexpensive, abundant and consistent in quality.
Once produced, fibre can be processed on conventional textile equipment and use conventional dyes, thus moving into the conventional textile chain.
Find out more about the journal article: Poole et al. Environmentally sustainable fibres from regenerated protein. 2009. Biomacromolecules. 10: 1-8.
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