{"id":134375,"date":"2023-11-10T07:35:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T06:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=134375"},"modified":"2023-11-08T13:03:11","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T12:03:11","slug":"generating-clean-electricity-with-chicken-feathers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/generating-clean-electricity-with-chicken-feathers\/","title":{"rendered":"Generating clean electricity with chicken feathers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/11\/imagePanorama.imageformat.carousel.1190555091-1-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-134399\" style=\"aspect-ratio:2;width:707px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/11\/imagePanorama.imageformat.carousel.1190555091-1-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/11\/imagePanorama.imageformat.carousel.1190555091-1-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/11\/imagePanorama.imageformat.carousel.1190555091-1-150x75.jpg 150w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/11\/imagePanorama.imageformat.carousel.1190555091-1-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/11\/imagePanorama.imageformat.carousel.1190555091-1-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/11\/imagePanorama.imageformat.carousel.1190555091-1-2048x1024.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/11\/imagePanorama.imageformat.carousel.1190555091-1-400x200.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photograph: Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Annually, 40 million tons of chicken feathers are incinerated, causing adverse environmental effects.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Researchers have recently developed a method to repurpose this industrial waste.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>They use the keratin found in chicken feathers to create an environmentally friendly and cost-\u200beffective membrane for fuel cells.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The food industry generates enormous amounts of waste and by-\u200bproducts, including from poultry production. Each year, some 40 million tonnes of chicken feathers are incinerated. This not only releases large amounts of CO<sub>2<\/sub>, but also produces toxic gases such as sulphur dioxide.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Researchers at ETH Zurich and Nanyang Technological University Singapore (NTU) have now found a way to put these feathers to good use. Using a simple and environmentally friendly process, they extract the protein keratin from the feathers and convert it into ultra-\u200bfine fibres known as amyloid fibrils. These keratin fibrils go on to be used in the membrane of a fuel cell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fuel cells generate CO<sub>2<\/sub>-\u200bfree electricity from hydrogen and oxygen, releasing only heat and water. They could play an important role as a sustainable energy source in the future. At the heart of every fuel cell lies a semipermeable membrane. It allows protons to pass through but blocks electrons, forcing them to flow through an external circuit from the negatively charged anode to the positively charged cathode, thereby producing an electric current.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"967\" height=\"769\" src=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/11\/Bildschirmfoto-2023-11-07-um-12.52.18-1.png\" alt=\"A sustainable membrane is produced from the keratin in chicken feathers for use in a fuel cell.\" class=\"wp-image-134398\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.257477243172952;width:715px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/11\/Bildschirmfoto-2023-11-07-um-12.52.18-1.png 967w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/11\/Bildschirmfoto-2023-11-07-um-12.52.18-1-300x239.png 300w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/11\/Bildschirmfoto-2023-11-07-um-12.52.18-1-150x119.png 150w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/11\/Bildschirmfoto-2023-11-07-um-12.52.18-1-768x611.png 768w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/11\/Bildschirmfoto-2023-11-07-um-12.52.18-1-340x270.png 340w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 967px) 100vw, 967px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A sustainable membrane is produced from the keratin in chicken feathers for use in a fuel cell.&nbsp;(Graphic: ETH Zurich \/ NTU)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Making good use of industrial waste<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In conventional fuel cells, these membranes have so far been made using highly toxic chemicals, or \u201cforever chemicals\u201d, which are expensive and don\u2019t break down in the environment. The membrane developed by the ETH and NTU researchers, on the other hand, consists mainly of biological keratin, which is environmentally compatible and available in large quantities \u2013 chicken feathers are 90 percent keratin. This means the membrane manufactured in the laboratory is already up to three times cheaper than conventional membranes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve devoted a number of years to researching different ways we can use food waste for renewable energy systems,\u201d says <strong>Raffaele Mezzenga, Professor of Food and Soft Materials at ETH Zurich<\/strong>. \u201cOur latest development closes a cycle: we\u2019re taking a substance that releases CO<sub>2<\/sub>&nbsp;and toxic gases when burned and used it in a different setting: with our new technology it not only replaces toxic substances, but also prevents the release of CO<sub>2<\/sub>, decreasing the overall carbon footprint cycle\u201d, Mezzenga says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Versatile application<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>However, there are further challenges to overcome before hydrogen can become established as a sustainable energy source. \u201cHydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe \u2013 just unfortunately not on Earth,\u201d Mezzenga says. Since hydrogen doesn\u2019t occur here in its pure form, it has to be produced, which requires a great deal of energy. Here, too, the new membrane could serve well in the future, because it can be used not only in fuel cells but also in water splitting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a process known as electrolysis, direct current is passed through water, causing oxygen to form at the (this time) positively charged anode, while hydrogen escapes at the negatively charged cathode. Pure water isn\u2019t conductive enough for this process and often requires the addition of acids. The new membrane, however, is permeable to protons and thus enables the particle migration between anode and cathode necessary for efficient water splitting, even in pure water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Patent pending<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The researchers\u2019 next step will be to investigate how stable and durable their keratin membrane is, and to improve it if necessary. The research team has already filed a joint patent for the membrane and is now looking for investors or companies to develop the technology further and bring it to market.&nbsp;<a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Reference<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Soon WL, Peydayesh M, de Wild T, Donat F, Saran R, M\u00fcller CR, Gubler L, Mezzenga R, Miserez A: Renewable Energy from Livestock Waste Valorization: Amyloid-\u200bBased Feather Keratin Fuel Cells. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, September 26, 2023, doi:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/10.1021\/acsami.3c10218\">external page10.1021\/acsami.3c10218call_made<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The food industry generates enormous amounts of waste and by-\u200bproducts, including from poultry production. Each year, some 40 million tonnes of chicken feathers are incinerated. This not only releases large amounts of CO2, but also produces toxic gases such as sulphur dioxide. Researchers at ETH Zurich and Nanyang Technological University Singapore (NTU) have now found [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Turning unused waste from food production into clean energy: Researchers at ETH Zurich and Nanyang Technological University Singapore are using chicken feathers to make fuel cells more cost-\u200beffective and sustainable","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[5842,13911,5627,17039,22994],"supplier":[277,13538],"class_list":["post-134375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biomass","tag-electricity","tag-energy","tag-fuelcells","tag-keratine","supplier-eidgenoessische-technische-hochschule-zuerich-eth-zuerich","supplier-nanyang-technological-university-singapore"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134375"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=134375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}