Abstract
Background: The disposal of chicken feather through burning or burying is not environmentally compliant due to the accompanying release of greenhouse gas and underground water contamination. Thus, the transformation of this bio-waste into a bio-composite film is considered not only sustainable strategy for disposal of these solid wastes but also an attractive alternative to developing an efficient nanostructure biomaterial from renewable bio resource.Methods: In the present study keratin extracted from chicken feather waste in combination with ginger starch were fabricated into a bio-composite film. The fabricated bio-composite films were characterized, using different analytical techniques.Results: The physicochemical characteristics of ginger starch showed a moisture content of 33.8%, pH of 6.21, amylose and amylopectin contents of 39.1% and 60.9%, respectively. The hydration capacity of the starch was 132.2% while its gelatinization temperature was 65.7 oC. Physical attributes of the bio-composite film, such as surface smoothness and tensile stress increased significantly (p < 0.05) with increasing keratin content, while transparency, solubility significantly (p < 0.05) decreased with increasing keratin level. The various blends of the bio-composite films decayed by over 50% of the original mass after 12 days of complete burial in soil.Conclusion: Based on the results obtained in this study, the addition of keratin to starch bio-composite showed improvement in mechanical properties, such as tensile stress and surface smoothness. The bio-composite film exhibited appropriate stability in water, although future study showed be carried out to evaluate its thermal stability. Nonetheless, the fabricated keratin-starch bio-composite showed desirable characteristics that could be optimized for industrial applications.