A team of researchers has developed a novel method to produce clean energy: using waste chicken feathers from the poultry industry.
The food industry produces huge amounts of waste, including feathers from poultry.
Every year, around 40 million metric tonnes are incinerated.
As well as being a waste of the byproduct, this process releases large amounts of CO2 and toxic chemicals, including sulphur dioxide.
The researchers, from NTU Singapore and ETH Zurich, Switzerland, found a use for these waste feathers by extracting a protein known as keratin.
This protein is abundant in chicken feathers, which are composed of around 90% keratin.
The extracted keratin is converted into ultra-fine fibres known as amyloid fibrils, which are then used as the membrane in a fuel cell.
Fuel cells are designed to use semipermeable membranes that allow protons but not electrons to pass through.
The blocked electrons are forced into an external circuit where they flow from the anode to the cathode, producing an electric current.
The result is electricity produced from hydrogen and oxygen without releasing any CO2.
Chicken-derived keratin makes fuel cells more environmentally friendly
Fuel cells are not a new technology and are generally believed to be an important clean fuel source for the future.
The membranes in current fuel cells are typically made with highly toxic ‘forever materials’, however, which do not break down in the environment.
They are also expensive to make, unlike the biological keratin derived from chicken feathers, which is relatively cheap to extract, plentiful and environmentally compatible.
The researchers’ process, detailed in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, involves the isolation of keratin from an alkaline extract of chicken feathers.
When heated, this keratin is converted into the amyloid fibrils, which are rope-like nanostructures made of tightly wound proteins.
The fibrils are further processed to form the membranes and treated in acid to create a chemical reaction that allows them to conduct protons.
The feather-derived membranes have been tested in a small fuel cell that was used to power an LED lamp, a small electric fan and a toy car.
Further steps will include testing the membrane for durability and stability, and improving the design for efficiency.
Lead researcher Professor Ali Miserez said that the membrane had a negative carbon footprint as it repurposed a substance that was typically burned and could be used in a fuel cell without producing further carbon dioxide emissions.
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