Study of different treatment methods on chicken feather biomass

Abstract

Chicken feathers (CFs) make up to 10 % of total chicken dry mass and they have many potential industrial applications. CFs contain protein fibers called keratin, which is an insoluble protein. Primary sanitization phases are complex because of the presence of many blood-borne microbes, pathogens, and parasites in raw biomass. The extraction process of keratins from the unprocessed feathers is also a challenging task. Prior to the extraction, the cleaning/sanitization of feathers is a very necessary step. Thus, the present work was conducted to optimize an efficient surfactant for the cleaning process of the CFs using ionic and non-ionic surfactants. The experiment was conducted by the washing of feathers with double distilled water (ddH2O), detergents, ether, and lastly with boiling water. The washed feathers were treated with surfactants (sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), cetrimonium bromide (CTAB) and polyethylene glycol (PEG)) and the effect of each surfactant was analyzed by a microbiological test that indicates the extent of the presence of different bacteria on the treated feathers. SEM, EDX, FTIR were used to study the morphology and composition of untreated and treated CFs. SEM showed no detectable fiber damage after treatment. Cetrimonium bromide (CTAB) (t3) was one of the best surfactants recommended for the treatment of CFs among all the surfactants used. The present study described the best treatment method for the CFs.