Bioplastic made from chicken feathers

El plastic It is one of the most used materials in the world. There are all kinds of products made of plastic which is made based on the oil.

But in a few decades, oil will run out and its price will become even more expensive, so it can no longer be used to make plastics. For this reason, different options are being investigated and developed to create bioplastics to replace those made based on petroleum.

They are looking for cheap raw materials, that are ecological and that are biodegradable so that waste is not a problem.

At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln they are investigating the possibility of producing bioplastic based on chicken feathers. This item is a food industry waste as it is not used.

Researchers are interested in feathers because they contain a protein known as keratin which has strong and durable qualities.

The process of obtaining this bioplastic consists of carrying out a heat treatment to clean them, then they are pulverized until they are transformed into a fine powder. Then some chemicals are added to make the keratin turn into a polymer.

This material that is obtained can be heat moldable, so it can be used for different uses and forms like traditional plastic.

Another positive feature is that it can be recycled several times and is biodegradable so it is really eco-friendly.

This type of research is very important because sooner or later oil will no longer be used for innumerable quantities of products. So alternatives should be sought since products that are made of plastic are needed.

There are many possibilities for the development of bioplastics with different materials, the difficult thing is that the raw material is abundant and that the manufacturing cost is economical since plastic products are cheap.

SOURCE: The green blog


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