Researchers use waste chicken feathers to create keratin membranes useful for hydrogen fuel cells and electrolysis.
Waste chicken feathers could help produce clean energy. Photo: Adobe Stock
Hydrogen is a promising clean energy. Hydrogen fuel cells generate electricity using semipermeable membranes. However, these membranes are often manufactured using “forever chemicals” that are expensive, environmentally unfriendly, toxic, and potentially carcinogenic.
A team of researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore has found a new way to produce these membranes, Interesting Engineering reported on October 21. They extracted the keratin protein from chicken feather waste and turned it into microscopic fibers called amyloids using an environmentally friendly process. These microscopic keratin fibers are then used for fuel cell membranes.
Every year, about 40 million tons of chicken feathers are burned. This process not only generates huge amounts of CO2 emissions but also produces toxic gases such as SO2. Using chicken feathers to produce hydrogen energy would be an effective way to deal with waste from the poultry industry.
However, there are still challenges to overcome before hydrogen becomes a sustainable energy source. “Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but unfortunately this is not the case on Earth,” says Raffaele Mezzenga, professor of Food and Soft Materials at ETH Zurich. Here, hydrogen does not exist in its pure form, so it must be produced through an energy-intensive process.
The new membrane holds promise not only for use in fuel cells, but also in electrolysis (the process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity). In this process, a direct current is passed through water, causing oxygen to form at the positively charged anode, while hydrogen is released at the negatively charged cathode. Pure water is not conductive enough and usually requires the addition of acid. However, the new membrane is permeable to protons, allowing particles to move between the anode and cathode, making electrolysis effective even in pure water.
Next, the team will test the stability and durability of the new keratin membrane and make improvements as needed. They have filed a patent application and are looking for investors or companies to help further develop the technology and commercialize it.
Thu Thao (According to Interesting Engineering )
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