Car Parts from Chickens

PRE READING ACTIVITY: What can be made from all the chicken feathers from the chicken farm? Read the following article to find out what we can make out of chicken feathers. CAR PARTS FROM CHICKENS

Researchers hatch a plan to make plastic from feathers

Nearly a decade ago poultry-processing plants around the nation asked researchers at the Department of Agriculture to solve a big environmental problem: find a more efficient way to dispose of the four billion pounds of chicken feathers produced annually in the U.S. What they were expecting was a method by which the feathers could be made more
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5biodegradable after burial. But Walter Schmidt, a chemist at the Agricultural Research
Service (ARS) in Beltsville, Md., went a step further to develop a recycling technology that will soon bring feathers into everyday life disguised as plastic and paper products. Currently poultry farmers mix water with leftover feathers in large pressure cookers to make low-grade feedstuff for chickens and cattle a venture that is generally not
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10profitable. But converting feathers into value-added products require more than just a
little steam. Schmidt and his colleagues developed an efficient mechanical method to separate the more valuable barb fibers (plumage) from the less useful central chaff, or quill. Though softer, the keratin fibers in the barbs are stronger and less brittle than those in the quill and therefore have a much broader range of applications.

15The key to easy separation lay in the fact that the quills are bulkier and heavier. The
feathers, dried and sterilized, are shredded and fed into a cylindrical device consisting of an outer and inner tube. The feathers are sucked through the central channel, and the quills are drawn off at the bottom, but thanks to air turbulence, the barbs float back up between the sides of the tubes.
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20Once separated, barb fibers can be used in many ways. Schmidt and his collaborators have
made diaper filler, paper towels and water filters out of them. The ground fibers have been used in plastics, in pulp to make paper, and in combination with synthetic and natural
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Car Parts from Chickens

fibers to make textiles. And the fibers are good for more chemically complex applications well. For instance by mixing the fiber powder with a reducing agent and placing the slurry

25in a hydraulic press, Attila Pavlath, a scientist for the ARS in California, has created
polymer films. The reducing agent acts like a hairdressers perm solution to relax the protein bonds of the keratin, allowing us to mold the fiber into thin sheets of plastic, Pavlath explains. This polymer may first show up as biodegradable candy wrappers (similar to cellophane) and six-pack can-holders.

30The powder can also replace additives, such as nonrecyclable fiberglass, that are used to
strengthen plastic. Combined with polyethylene, the barbs can produce a more rigid plastic suitable for dog-food bowls and automobile interior parts, including the dashboard. The quill portion doesnt have to go to waste, either. David Emery of Featherfiber Corporation in Nixa, Mo., has developed a process to make high-grade quill protein that is

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3590 percent digestible (typical quill meals is only 50 percent digestible), Emery says. The
company has licensed Schmidts patents and has just completed a pilot plant to produce feather fiber. Farm animals may not be the only ones to benefit from a quill meal. Carlo Licata of MaXim LLC in Pasadena, Calif., believes that the quill portion in an excellent dietary supplement
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40for humans. Thats because the keratin protein is very absorbent, Licata indicates, and
can retain nutrients for a longer period something like Metamucil, only better. All this and more from chicken feathers without breaking the farm. A typical farm produces 10,000 pounds of feathers per hour, which is enough for the needs of one plastic-producing plant, Schmnidt remarks. If all the feathers in the U.S. were processed,
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45more than five billion pounds of plastic products could be made.

Feather-derived plastics are just one of the several nonpetroleum-based green plastics that have surfaced in the past year. Cargill-Dow Polylmers in Minnetonka, Minn., recently announced production of a new kind of natural plastic made from polylactic acid, a compound derived form corn. Monsanto, maker of genetically modified plants, reported
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Car Parts from Chickens

50last October that it had fabricated a plant capable of producing biodegradable plastic of a
type known as polyhydroxyalkanoate. But the consequences of producing greener plastics are often overlooked, according to Tillman Gerngross, a biochemical engineer at Dartmouth College. People too readily accept the premise that renewable equals environmentally good. It does not necessarily add up.
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55If you have to use huge amounts of coal to make the plastics, then you are harming the
environment just the same, he points out. And feather plastics are often only partially degradable. Still, Gerngross agrees that a move toward sustainable resources is desirable.

That should prevent researchers like Walter Schmidt from chickening out too soon.
Diane Martindale

Scientific American, April 2000

(774 words)

60A. VOCABULARY
Match the terms at the left below with their meanings at the right. The first one has been done for you. __p____ 1. a decade 2. poultry 3. plants (line 1) (line 1) (line 1) a. trees b. uses 85c. earth d. plastic e. chicken f. a color g. factories 90h. removed i. software j. throw away k. experimental l. made pictures 95m. finely broken up n. person who flies airplane o. not harmful to the environment p. a period of ten years (8 x = 4 marks)

65
_______ _______

70_______
_______ _______

4. dispose of (line 3) 5. applications (line 14) 6. drawn off (line 18) 7. ground 8. pilot 9. green (line 21) (line 36) (line 46)

75
_______ _______

80_______

Car Parts from Chickens

100B. REFERENCE
What do the following words refer to? 1. they (line 4) ___________________________________________________ (line 9) ___________________________________________________ 21)

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2. a venture

3. them (line ___________________________________________________

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4. the slurry (line 24) __________________________________________________ 5. The powder (line 30) __________________________________________________

1156. That

(line 58) __________________________________________________ (6 x 1 = 6 marks)

C. COMPREHENSION

1201. What is the big environmental problem mentioned in paragraph I?

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

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___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ (1 mark)

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2. Walter Schmidt developed a method to make feathers more biodegradable. Is this true of false? Quote from the article to support your answer. ___________________________________________________________________

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___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

140___________________________________________________________________

(1 mark)

Car Parts from Chickens

3. a. Before Schmidts invention, how were feathers recycled?

145___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

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___________________________________________________________________ (1 mark) b. What was the problem with this?

155
___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

160___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________ (1 mark)

1654. Based on the information in paragraphs II and III, label the parts of the feather
below. List ALL the contrasting characteristics of the two parts in the table provided.

Part of feather Characteristics

PART A:

PART B:

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Car Parts from Chickens

5.a. What must be done to the feathers before they are fed into the separating device?

170___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________ (1 mark)

175
b. Based on information in paragraph III, draw a diagram describing how the device separate the different parts of the feathers. Include and lable the following: inner and outer tubes central channel 180 what happens to the different parts of the feathers and why.

6. What is the main idea of paragraph IV?

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(1 mark) 7. Walter Schmidt has developed uses for both the quills and the barb. Is this true or false? Explain your answer.

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___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ (1 mark)

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8. Fill in the diagram next page describing the processing and the various products from chicken feathers. State the names and affiliation/company of the inventors where given. Name of inventor/Company Product

2009. a. What product(s) can be made from quill?

___________________________________________________________________

Car Parts from Chickens

205

___________________________________________________________________ (1 mark) b. What are the advantages of this product? ___________________________________________________________________

210
___________________________________________________________________ (2 marks) 10. According to the article, what are the reasons that feather plastics may not be good 215to the environment? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 220 (2 marks) 11. How many farms are needed to supply enough feathers for one plastic-producing plant? ___________________________________________________________________ 225 (1 mark) 12. Which of the following is the most suitable descriptive title for this article? CIRCLE the best answer. a. Research on Chicken Feathers 230 b. Recycling of Chicken Feathers c. Plastics from Chicken Feathers d. Car Interiors from Chicken Feathers

(1 mark)

235