The poultry industry produces a significant amount of waste. In Europe alone, about three million tonnes of feathers accumulate each year, which are either burned or processed into low-quality animal fodder. There are currently a number of projects using feathers as a raw material for a variety of different applications. In the packaging sector, too, the natural properties of feathers can be utilised. For example, the British start-up Aeropowder has developed a biodegradable packaging material which makes use of the naturally insulating properties of feathers and which was conceived for cold chain logistics.
Feathers are made of keratin, a chemically resistant and physically firm protein, which is of interest also to science. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB have, for example, launched a shared project with the world’s market leader in adhesives, Henkel, and developed a process by which the biobased raw material keratin can be extracted from feathers and used as a raw material for the production of different adhesives for different areas of application. Chicken feathers can even make electricity more green: Researchers at the ETH Zurich and the Nanyang Technological University Singapore (NTU) have succeeded in turning the protein keratin gained from the feathers into finest fibres, so-called amyloid fibrils. These are then used in the core piece of a fuel cell, a semi-permeable membrane, where they replace toxic chemicals.
The start-up Aeropowder which has its headquarters in West London had a different idea and developed the world’s first sustainable insulating material, PluumoPlus, from feathers. There has been an application for a patent for the insulating material, which aims to replace expanded polystyrene as a thermal packaging material and which as a next step is supposed to be used to store and transport temperature-sensitive goods, for example therapeutic substances and medicinal drugs. According to the manufacturer, the sustainable material is able to maintain a core temperature of 2 to 6°C over 72 hours, even if outside ambient temperatures over this period of time average at 30°C.