The core of this technology is to replace some wood pulp components in paper products with feather fibers, which can better support the skeleton. It has been used in air filter paper and decorative paper products. In the paper containing feather fiber, the fiber content accounts for 5 1%, and the remaining 49% is wood pulp, so the advantages of saving wood pulp raw materials and environmental protection are obvious: 50% fewer trees can be cut down. At present, the commonly used air filter paper is mainly wood pulp, but the characteristics of feather fiber superfine fiber make it more suitable as the raw material of air filter paper, and air filter paper is also the first commercial application of processing feather fiber at present.
According to the measurement, the width of wood pulp fiber is about 10-20 microns, while the thickness of air filter paper made of feather fiber and wood pulp can be only 5 microns, which is less than the width of wood pulp fiber. Therefore, the pores of feather fiber filter paper are smaller, which can filter out more plant pollen and spores in the air. There are many advantages in using this feather fiber filter paper at home and office. Its ultra-fine filtration can block all kinds of allergens (dust) in the air on the filter paper and reduce the occurrence of air pollution syndrome.
In addition, if feather fiber filter paper is used in the vacuum cleaner, the dust collection effect is better than that of conventional filter paper.
At present, this papermaking technology has been patented, three papermaking enterprises have obtained production licenses, and two enterprises specializing in extracting light and fine feather fibers from chicken feathers have also begun to operate. One of the production licensing enterprises will use feather fiber to produce lightweight and compact synthetic materials for office equipment, automobile interior parts and railway passenger car sleeping facilities. A new patent developed by the Agricultural Research Service Laboratory of the United States Department of Agriculture can turn clean chicken feather powder into textile fiber cloth, containers, plastic films, plastic bags and any other special products made of plastic.
Today, the annual output of chicken feathers can reach 2.5 billion Jin, and it is still increasing year by year. Some chicken feathers are used as feed, and more are treated as garbage. With the increasing popularity of bird flu, the development of chicken feather feed is threatened, and scientists are trying to find another way to use chicken feathers.
The new processing technology can make full use of keratin, the main component of chicken feathers. By rearranging the molecular structure of keratin, fiber fabrics with arbitrary length and width, plastics and plastic films with arbitrary shapes can be produced. Perhaps, sufficient chicken feathers can reduce manufacturers' dependence on petroleum products, because polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene and other products are also rising with the rise of oil prices.
This new material is very strong, light, biodegradable and has no white pollution to the environment. Last summer, scientists tested the agricultural plastic film made of chicken feathers. The results show that the plastic film made of traditional plastics must be uncovered when crops grow tall, which requires manpower. Chicken feather mulch is not needed, it will naturally degrade and become nitrogen that plants can absorb. Farmers can keep this plastic film until the next planting season. When they plant new crops again, these plastic films become nitrogen fertilizer and enrich the soil.
Recently, scientists and factories are discussing cooperation in producing feather textiles. Because this kind of fiber is not limited by length and width, it can be processed into any natural fiber, as comfortable as cotton and as textured as wool. Maybe soon, our favorite wool sweatshirt may be made of chicken feathers.