Investigating the partial substitution of chicken feather for wood fiber in the production of wood-based fiberboard

This study was conducted to investigate the potential of chicken feather (CF), which is a by-product in poultry industry, as a partial substitute of wood fiber in the production of wood-based fiberboard. Keratin-type protein constituted the majority of CF, and its appearance did not differ from that of wood fiber. When the formaldehyde (HCHO) adsorptivities of CF compared by its pretreatment type, feather meal (FM), which was pretreated CF with high temperature and pressure and then grounded, showed the highest HCHO adsorptivity. In addition, there was no difference between the adsorbed HCHO amounts, which was measured by dinitrophenylhydrazine method, of scissors-chopped CF and CF beated with an electrical blender. Mechanical properties and HCHO emission of medium-density fiberboards (MDF), which were fabricated with wood fiber and 5 wt% CF, beated CF or FM based on the oven-dried weight of wood fiber, were not influenced by the pretreatment type of CF. However, when the values compared with those of MDF made with just wood fiber, thickness swelling and HCHO emission of the MDF were improved greatly with the addition of CF, beated CF or FM. Based on the results, it might be possible to produce MDF with improved dimensional stability and low HCHO emission if CF, beated CF or FM is added partially as a substitute of wood fiber in the manufacturing process of MDF produced with the conventional urea-formaldehyde resin of E₁ grade. However, the use of CF or FM in the production of MDF has a low economic feasibility at the current situation due to the securing difficulty and high cost of CF. In order to enhance the economic feasibility, it requires to use CF produced at small to medium-sized chicken meat plants. More importantly, it is considered that the technology developed from this research has a great potential to make provision for the prohibition of animal-based feed and to dispose environmentally avian influenza-infected poultry.