June 29, 2009

Carbonised chicken feathers could provide a cheap and environmentally-friendly way to store hydrogen fuel for future motor vehicles, according to researchers in the University of Delaware.

If the concept is proven and accepted by the automobile industry, it could help dispose the 2.7 billion kg of chicken feathers generated each year by the poultry industry.

Chicken feathers are made of keratin, the same protein in fingernails and beaks, and the feathers are comprised of strong hollow tubes, according to the research team, which had been investigating the feathers' potential for improving the performance of electronic microcircuits.

The air inside the tubes helps to speed electrons along the printed wiring, but the feathers were not stiff enough to hold the circuit boards together very well. So the team tried a heating technique to strengthen the bonds between the carbon atoms in the keratin.

The team said carbonising the feathers gave them a strength that nearly rivals nanotubes. The carbonised feathers could store up to 1.7 percent of their weight as hydrogen, about as much as nanotubes could store. The feathers also cost virtually nothing to produce, and they are considered a nuisance commodity, said a researcher.

A hydrogen-storage tank using the carbonised feathers would cost only about US$200 when mass produced. But the carbonised feathers still need improvement as the US Department of Energy has set a target capacity for hydrogen-storage techniques of six percent of weight.

Hydrogen is reportedly a leading alternative fuel for vehicles. Storing enough of it could give vehicles a cruising range that approaches that of gasoline or diesel fuel.