New project to develop biodegradable packaging from poultry industry waste

It is an important keratin source that ends in landfills or is incinerated, from which we could obtain different high added-value products, such as fertilizers, bioplastics, biocomposites, and additives for biodegradable packages and coatings for the fabrics industry.

As one of 16 partners from 10 different countries, AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, is taking part in the European project KARMA 2020 under the coordination of CIDETEC. The project aims at developing innovative processes to extract the keratin from the poultry litter. To that end, a start is being made to design this innovative valorization process. After having obtained the litter, decontamination will be performed to eliminate any pathogenic substance that may be a risk for health of people handling it at the different phases. Then, the feathers are treated at nano and micro scale, so the keratin’s processability by means of different processes is achieved.

Once keratin is obtained from feathers, there are many possibilities of application. For instance, these particles can be incorporated to the biopolymers obtained from renewable resources to produce fully recyclable and biodegradable packages with which package food, such as those elaborated by the poultry industry itself. In other words, a bird can be packed with its own feathers.

The biocomposites manufacturing is another application field of keratin coming from poultry feathers, since they can be incorporated as fibers and copolymer in the composite’s matrix.

Another application of the keratin obtained from feathers is its incorporation in fertilizers manufacturing. Keratin is formed by amino acids, the structure of which have a high content of nitrogen, which is the main component of fertilizers used in agriculture.

The development of technical textiles could also benefit from the incorporation of a component like keratin, in particular as a coating, in form of particles that provide a fire-retardant effect, as well as breathability properties, since keratin is able to transport water vapor through the coating.

This project has been funded by the EU research and innovation program Horizon 2020, grant agreement no 727619.