One for two: conversion of waste chicken feathers to carbon microspheres and (NH4)HCO3.
Pyrolysis of 1 g of waste chicken feathers (quills and barbs) in supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-CO2) system at 600 °C for 3 h leads to the formation of 0.25 g well-shaped carbon microspheres with diameters of 1-5 μm and 0.26 g ammonium bicarbonate ((NH4)HCO3). The products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Raman spectroscopic, FT-IR spectrum, X-ray electron spectroscopy (XPS), and N2 adsorption/desorption measurements. The obtained carbon microspheres displayed great superhydrophobicity as fabric coatings materials, with the water contact angle of up to 165.2±2.5°. The strategy is simple, efficient, does not require any toxic chemicals or catalysts, and generates two valuable materials at the same time. Moreover, other nitrogen-containing materials (such as nylon and amino acids) can also be converted to carbon microspheres and (NH4)HCO3 in the sc-CO2 system. This provides a simple strategy to extract the nitrogen content from natural and man-made waste materials and generate (NH4)HCO3 as fertilizer.
Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China , Jinzhai Rd 96, Hefei 86-551-63601495, China.
Lei
L
Gao
Haibo
H
Hu
Xuelin
X
Sui
Changle
C
Chen
Qianwang
Q
Chen
D000818:Animals; D001639:Bicarbonates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D002645:Chickens; D005241:Feathers / Q000737:chemistry*; D008863:Microspheres; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D014866:Waste Products
D001639:Bicarbonates; D014866:Waste Products; C027043:ammonium bicarbonate; D002244:Carbon