Abstract
Poultry has become the primary source of dietary protein consumed globally and as a result the by-product feathers are an increasingly problematic industrial waste. Developing a circular economy for feathers is, therefore, an important research area that provides an opportunity to make use of the unique combination of properties of this abundant natural material. This paper reports on the thermal properties of novel feather-based thermal insulation materials. Waste feathers were collected, cleaned and processed into fibres, which were then used to form air-laid nonwoven materials. These have a high fibre content and exploit the excellent natural thermal insulation properties of feathers. The performance of the novel materials developed are tested in order to outline the influence of temperature and density on thermal conductivity and dynamic water sorption. Results are compared to a range of commercially available thermal insulation materials for buildings manufactured from denim, hemp, sheep wool, PET and mineral wool. It was found that air laid feather-fibre fabrics have comparable performance to other fibrous materials and have a thermal conductivity of 0.033 W/(m K) for samples with a density of 59 kg/m3. This is due to the low thermal conductivity of feather fibres and the void structure formed by air-laid processing that effectively traps air. These materials additionally offer improved sustainability credentials as they are derived from a readily available waste that is generally considered to be unavoidable. The paper concludes by highlighting the significant technical and commercial barriers that exist to using waste feathers in thermal insulation products and suggests areas for further research that can exploit the unique properties of feathers.Graphical
Highlights
Feathers are one of the most effective thermal insulation materials, with thermal conductivities ranging from 0.024 W/(m K) and 0.034 W/(m K) depending on the type of feather [1]
Feathers are an abundant waste from the poultry industry and developing a circular economy to take advantage of their unique natural properties has potential to provide a sustainable alternative to current, predominantly linear, disposal methods
The air-laid feather fibre sample has a density of 29.8 kg/m3, the given a feather density of 0.68 g/cm3 and the reported density of the bico is 1155 kg/m3 (AL-Thermal Fibervisions)
Summary
Feathers are one of the most effective thermal insulation materials, with thermal conductivities ranging from 0.024 W/(m K) and 0.034 W/(m K) depending on the type of feather [1]. They consist of a tough central quill and rachis, connected to soft interlinking barbs that form the vanes. Poultry consumption is increasing globally, due to the relatively low-costs associated with poultry farming and the rapid growth of chickens. Poultry industry produces ~ 3.1 million tonnes of waste feathers per annum in the EU, and as a result research to develop novel applications for feathers has increased in recent years [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18]. Limited applications for feathers currently exist and developing new materials that exploit the properties of this novel material is an important area for further work
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
