(20f) Chicken Feather Biocarbon Based Novel Biodegradable Composites

Zonglin Li¹, Christoff Reimer², Amar Mohanty^1,2, Manjusri Misra^1,2

¹Bioproducts Discovery and Development Center, Department of Plant Agriculture, Crop Science Building, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1, Ontario, Canada
²School of Engineering, Thornbrough Building, University of Guelph, Guelph, N1G 2W1, Ontario, Canada

Abstract: This work describes the conversion of chicken feathers (ChF) into biocarbon by using slow pyrolysis. The effects of pyrolysis temperature on the yield content, ash content, functionality, elemental composition, as well as thermal and electrical conductivity of the biocarbon were studied. ChF biocarbon was also incorporated with poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and the properties of PLA biocomposites were also investigated in detail. It was found that with increasing the pyrolysis temperature, the yield content of ChF biocarbon decreased. The ash content, measured by both gravimetric method and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) methods, increased in biocarbon samples pyrolyzed at higher temperatures. FTIR results showed that almost all of the functional groups were removed after pyrolysis at 600 ^oC. The elemental composition results indicated that the carbon (C) content increased with increasing pyrolysis temperature, while oxygen (O) and sulfur (S) content decreased. XRD results indicated that the carbon structure became more disordered with increasing pyrolysis temperatures. The electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity was found to decrease with the increase in the pyrolysis temperature. In the PLA/ChF composites, ChF biocarbon have proven to effectively increase the modulus of the PLA composites. This work provides a potential method for utilization of waste ChF.

Acknowledgements:

This research is financially supported by the Ontario Research Fund, Research Excellence Program; Round-7 (ORF-RE07) from the Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science (MRIS) (Project #052644 and 052665); and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canada Discovery Grants Project # 401111 and 400320. We also acknowledge Maple Leaf Foods, Canada for providing clean chicken feather samples to carry out this research.