Processors start to pony up for feather-based plastics

Processors from around the world are starting to take an interest in keratin resin, derived from poultry feathers. Less dense than polyolefins, with a modulus of about 3-5 GPa and stress-to-break of 200-500 MPa, the material, a thermoplastic and biodegradable, can be molded neat or blended with standard thermoplastics to create "green" compounds.

There have been attempts before to derive plastic from poultry feathers, but officials at Eastern Bioplastics (Mt. Crawford, VA), located in the largest poultry farming area of the U.S., believe they have a leg up on the competition. "Our advantage is that we've developed a continuous process, using less energy (than others) and keeping it nearly fully automated," from feathers coming in one end of the plant to pellets being bagged on the other, explained Sonny Meyerhoeffer, the company's founder and principal, in an interview with MPW.  Feathers' quills and fibers contain keratin, a material that can be processed much like standard thermoplastics. Feathers are cleaned, chopped and extruded into strands that then are cut into granules. The granulate does not smell. Although naturally whitish/brown in color, the keratin can be colored easily, adds Meyerhoeffer.

Meyerhoeffer comes to the business with a broad business background. Before starting Eastern Bioplastics, though, he led the founding of a co-op that took over a turkey processing plant slated with closure. The co-op flourished, jobs and livelihoods were saved, and so, about three years ago, he began to seek a new challenge, settling on commercialization of keratin resins. Mutual acquaintances put him in touch with Justin Barone, an associate professor at VA Tech. (Blacksburg, VA), who was a researcher on the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) team that discovered these polymers could be processed into plastics. Barone now is the R&D leader of the young company and also a stakeholder in it.

The company has eight to nine employees and developed its own machinery for processing the feathers. In the U.S., poultry feathers sometimes are used as filler in cattle or poultry feed, but most of them end up in landfills. Brandon Waldron, who handles sales and marketing at the company, has lined up sufficient poultry processors to ensure a steady feather supply. Eastern Bioplastics uses chicken feathers for its plastic rather than turkey feathers, as these latter feathers require greater processing, and thus energy, to create a good keratin. According to the USDA-ARS, annually about 4 billion lb of chicken feathers are left over after processing in the U.S.      

The keratin from Eastern Bioplastics is priced to compete with standard thermoplastics. Matt Swartley, hired in 2008 and now project coordinator, says the company has tested well over 200 formulations. The company has begun work with some processors, among them Great Lakes Diecast, and Meyerhoeffer says the company is fielding questions from processors around the world. Currently the company has focused its efforts mostly on development of grades for injection molding. On the R&D board is work on extrusion grades, such as those necessary to extrude agricultural films.

Though still small, the company and product is at a stage where it is ready to step up for commercial projects, Swartley says. Unlike many plastics based on biomaterials, the keratin is not particularly sensitive to heat, with melt temperatures well above 200ºF. Exact data is forthcoming in the next weeks as the company begins a battery of tests to determine the material's properties.

Processors' interest is across the applications realm, says Meyerhoeffer, with molders of single-use packaging and cutlery showing interest, but also ones serving the automotive and furniture markets, with these latter more interested in keratin blended with standard plastics such as HDPE, LDPE and PP. Swartley notes that keratin's density is lower than that of these materials, offering processors a means to cut both weight and to score sustainability points. In these compounds the feather fibers are completely encased in thermoplastic so there is no transfer of water or microbes into the material to degrade the keratin, and thus no biodegradability. —Matt Defosse