Of Rice and Hen: Fashions from the Farm
Photo by the USDA Agricultural Research Service
It may not be long before you can shake your tail-feathers. Literally. Scientists at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln plan to transform agricultural waste, such as chicken feathers and rice straw, into viable textiles that could oust petroleum-based synthetic fabrics from the market. You won’t be strutting around in some flightless fowl’s fancy plumage, however, as researchers say the feather-based fabric will simulate wool, while the rice-straw fabric will approximate linen or cotton, offering potential eco-friendly options for carpets, automobiles, buildings, and more. (The study describing rice straw fabric was presented Sept. 11 at the 232nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society; the study about chicken feather fabric was presented today.) I bet they’ve been fielding calls from Björk ALL DAY, except she keeps asking for Michael Bolton, bursting into giggles, and then hanging up after screaming about the clowns in her garbage disposal.
From the American Chemical Society: “In the future, it might be perfectly normal to wear suits and dresses made of chicken feathers or rice straw.”
“We hope that the research reported here will stimulate interest in using agricultural byproducts as textile fibers, which would add value to agricultural crops and also make the fiber industry more sustainable,” says Yiqi Yang, Ph.D., a professor of textile science at the university. His collaborator for both studies is research scientist Narendra Reddy, a doctoral candidate at the school.
With millions of tons of chicken feathers and rice straw available worldwide each year, these agricultural wastes represent an abundant, cheap and renewable alternative to petroleum-based synthetic fibers, Yang says. And unlike petroleum-based fibers, these agro-fibers are biodegradable. The development could be a boon to the nation’s rice and chicken farmers, Yang says.
Rice fabrics are the most developed of the two fabric concepts to date. Rice straw consists of the stems of the rice plant that are left over after rice grains are harvested. Like cotton and linen, rice straw is composed mostly of cellulose.
Using a special combination of chemicals and enzymes, a process that is now under patent review, Yang and Reddy developed fibers from the straw. The properties of the fibers indicate that the fibers are capable of being spun into fabrics using common textile machinery. The resulting fabric will have an appearance similar to cotton or linen, Yang says.
Chicken feathers are composed mostly of keratin, the same type of protein that is found in wool. The researchers are particularly interested in the barbs and barbules, the thin, filamentous network that forms the fluffy parts of the feather. These structures have a sturdy honeycomb architecture containing tiny air pockets that make the filaments extremely lightweight and resilient. Those properties offer the potential for developing fabrics that have lighter weight, better shock absorption and superior insulation—properties that may represent an improvement over wool, Yang says.
(Emphasis is mine.)
marie aka the FertilityBitch said,
September 15, 2006 at 8:59 pm
Hmmm,
I just picked a chicken feather stuck to my uncleaned free range eggs. Guess i could think of it like a dab of wool…
cheers,
marie