Composite Materials Based on Waste Chicken Feather Fibers for Oil-Spill Management

ABSTRACT

Oil spills remain one of the greatest man-made ecological threats, despite numerous advanced cleanup approaches. They still pose a major challenge in the search for materials and technologies that work as efficiently and sustainably as possible. Promising natural materials include poultry feathers, which are produced in large quantities every day as a byproduct of the meat industry. In this study, the influence of different forms of absorbents (loose feathers, pillows, and sheets) based on chicken feathers and the addition of an inorganic absorbent, sepiolite, on their absorption capacity was investigated. The chemical and physical surface properties, like morphology, chemical composition, zeta potential, surface free energies and oil absorption capacities were analyzed. The Gibbs free energy of immersion wetting with oil and the work of adhesion of the adsorbents, calculated based on contact angle measurements, were confirmed by the tests of adsorption capacities according to the ASTM 726–12 standard. The results showed that pure loose feathers have the highest oil adsorption capacity, while feather pillows have only half, and composite sheets have only a quarter of this capacity. The addition of inorganic adsorbent sepiolite did not increase the absorption capacity of the composites.

摘要

尽管有许多先进的清理方法，但石油泄漏仍然是最大的人为生态威胁之一. 在寻找尽可能高效和可持续工作的材料和技术方面，它们仍然是一个重大挑战. 有前景的天然材料包括家禽羽毛，这些羽毛每天都作为肉类工业的副产品大量生产. 在这项研究中，研究了基于鸡毛的不同形式的吸收剂（松散的羽毛、枕头和床单）以及添加无机吸收剂海泡石对其吸收能力的影响. 分析了表面的化学和物理性质，如形貌、化学成分、ζ电位、表面自由能和吸油能力. 通过根据ASTM 726-12标准的吸附容量测试，证实了基于接触角测量计算的用油浸渍润湿的吉布斯自由能和吸附剂的粘附功. 结果表明，纯松散羽毛的吸油能力最高，而羽毛枕只有一半，复合片材只有四分之一. 无机吸附剂海泡石的加入并没有提高复合材料的吸附能力.

KEYWORDS:

• Chicken feather fibers
• composites
• sepiolite
• surface properties
• oil adsorption
• oil-spill management

关键词:

• 鸡毛纤维
• 复合材料
• 海泡石
• 表面性质
• 油吸附
• 漏油管理

Highlights

• Waste poultry feathers are among the most promising natural materials for oil adsorption.

• The form and composition of feather-based oil adsorbents have a significant influence on their oil absorption capacity.

• The addition of inorganic sepiolite did not improve the absorption performance of any of feather composite forms investigated.

• The surface free energies and Gibbs free energies of wetting of feather-based adsorbents with oil are excellent indicators of oil adsorption ability.

• Chicken feathers in loose form are excellent oil adsorbents with more than 100% higher oil adsorption capacity compared to other adsorbents based on feather fibers.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Tanja Kos and Tjaša Glaser from the Laboratory for Characterization and Processing of Polymers at the University of Maribor, Slovenia for help and support at laboratory processing and characterization of feather fibers and sepiolite samples.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research work was conducted within the framework of the Research Program P2-0118 Textile Chemistry and Advanced Textile Materials (Slovenian Research Agency) and the Project J7-4492 (Slovenian Research Agency).