Journal of Cleaner Production 65 (2014) 561e567

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Reducing environmental pollution of the textile industry using keratin

as alternative sizing agent to poly(vinyl alcohol)
Narendra Reddy a, Lihong Chen b, Yue Zhang a, Yiqi Yang a, b, c, d, *
a
Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design, 234, HECO Building, East Campus, University of Nebraska e Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0802,
USA
b
Key Laboratory of Science and Technology of Eco-Textiles, Ministry of Education, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, China
c
Department of Biological Systems Engineering, 234, HECO Building, East Campus, University of Nebraska e Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0802, USA
d
Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, 234, HECO Building, East Campus, University of Nebraska e Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0802, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Keratin from chicken feathers used as warp sizing agents on polyester/cotton blends and polyester
Received 22 March 2013 provide similar sizing performance compared to poly(vinyl alcohol) and are also easily degradable in
Received in revised form activated sludge. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), the most common sizing agent is not degradable in textile
27 September 2013
effluent treatment plants. Efforts to find substitutes to PVA that can provide similar sizing performance,
Accepted 28 September 2013
Available online 8 October 2013
be biodegradable and cost-effective have not been successful. In this research, keratin was studied as
potential sizing agents for polyester and polyester/cotton materials and the sizing performance was
evaluated in comparison to PVA. Keratin provided similar cohesion and strength improvements but had
Keywords:
Biodegradation
low abrasion resistance on polyester/cotton fabrics. Keratin in activated sludge showed a substantial
Polyvinyl alcohol decrease in Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) whereas there was a negligible decrease in COD for PVA.
Sizing Overall, the low cost and biodegradable keratin exhibited potential to replace PVA.
Keratin Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Chicken feathers

1. Introduction
Textile processes such as sizing and desizing consume consid-
erable amounts of water, energy and chemicals and are mostly
responsible for the toxic effluents released into the environment
from textile plants (Moore and Ausley, 2004; Du et al., 2007).
Textile industry is one of the largest consumers of water in the
world. For instance, processing a ton of textiles is estimated to
consume about 80e100 m3 of water that is subsequently released
into the environment (Fu et al., 2011; Hamilton and Chiweshe,
1998; Hebeish et al., 2008). Several reports have highlighted the
problems and concerns on processing textiles and their effects on
the environment (Fu et al., 2011). Most countries, especially in the
European Union have enacted several regulations to limit the
environmental impacts of textile processing. Among the various
textile processes, sizing and desizing account for 40e60% of the
effluent load in a textile mill (Hebeish et al., 2006). Traditionally,
starch and starch derivatives for cotton and poly(vinyl alcohol)
* Corresponding author. Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion
Design, 234, HECO Building, East Campus, University of Nebraska e Lincoln, Lincoln,
NE 68583-0802, USA. Tel.: þ1 402 472 5197; fax: þ1 402 472 0640.
E-mail address: yyang2@unl.edu (Y. Yang).
(PVA) for synthetic fibers and blends have been the preferred sizing
agents. Relatively low price, good performance properties and easy
biodegradability are the advantages of starch whereas PVA is
preferred for the excellent sizing performance and easy desize-
ability although PVA is more expensive than starch. However, PVA
accounts for 45% of the total BOD load but does not degrade in
textile effluent treatment plants and is reported to persist in water
released from treatment plants (Ren, 2000; Savin and Butnaru,
2008). Attempts to recover and reuse PVA and other sizing agents
and limit their release into the environment have been technically
challenging and/or economically unviable (Sun et al., 2012; Sarkar
et al., 2012).
Substituting PVA with sizes developed from biopolymers has
been attempted to reduce the environmental impacts of PVA.
Starch has been modified by grafting with acrylates to make starch
more suitable for sizing synthetic fibers and their blends (Zhu and
Cheng, 2008; Zhu et al., 2008). In another report, starch was grafted
with methacrylates and sized on cotton, polyester and polyester/
cotton (P/C) yarns and found that a proper grafting ratio was
necessary to achieve good tensile properties (Zhu and Cao, 2004).
Other biopolymers such as cyclodextrans and chitosan have also
been studied as potential sizing agents (Hebeish et al., 2006, 2008;
Stegmaier et al., 2008).

0959-6526/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.09.046
562 N. Reddy et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 65 (2014) 561e567
Ability to form films, adhere to fibers, provide flexibility and easy
removal from the fibers after weaving are some of the most desirable
features of a sizing agent. Starch and PVA are preferred for sizing due
to their good sizing performance and relatively easy desizeability
although enzymes are used to remove starch based size. Plant pro-
teins such as wheat gluten and soy proteins have been made into
films for food and medical applications, used as adhesives for various
applications and also made into regenerated protein fibers for textile
and medical applications (Reddy and Yang, 2011a). Proteins have
also been used as adhesives for composites and wheat gluten has
been studied as a binder for textile printing paste (Reddy and Yang,
2011b; Hamilton and Chiweshe, 1998). These properties make plant
proteins suitable for sizing applications. We have recently demon-
strated that plant proteins such as soy proteins and wheat gluten and
chicken feathers used as sizing agents on cotton, polyester and
polyester/cotton provide similar performance properties to PVA and
were also easily degradable in activated sludge (Chen et al., 2013a,b;
Reddy et al., 2013; Yang and Reddy, 2013).
Similar to plant proteins, poultry feathers have also been stud-
ied for various non-food applications. Feathers or keratin from
feathers have been made into fibers, composites, films, sponges,
hydrogels for various end-uses (Reddy and Yang, 2010; Hill et al.,
2010). Unlike plant proteins, feathers do not have food applica-
tions and their non-food applications are also limited. About 1.8e2
million tons of chicken feathers are available in the United States
and most of the feathers are disposed in landfills. However, unlike
plant proteins, it is difficult to dissolve feathers and develop
products. Most of the previous applications have used feathers in
their original form (reinforcement for composites) or extracted
keratin from feathers to be processed into films, hydrogels and fi-
bers (Huda and Yang, 2008; Wang et al., 2012). The large availability
and virtually no cost makes feathers attractive raw material for
sizing textile yarns. However, appropriate methods of dissolving
feathers and the ability of feather to provide the desired
improvement in strength and abrasion resistance need to be
investigated.
In this research, keratin from chicken feathers was used to size
polyester and polyester/cotton yarns. Effects of size preparation
conditions and amount of size (add-on, %) on the tensile properties
and abrasion resistance of rovings and yarns were studied. Biode-
gradability of keratin solutions in activated sludge and the ability of
keratin to be desized were also investigated. Commercially avail-
able PVA based sizing agents were used to evaluate the perfor-
mance of keratin as sizing agent.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
Whole chicken feather consisting of quills, barbs and barbules
were supplied by Feather Fiber Corporation (Nixa, MO). Feathers
were ground into powder using a Wiley mill and used for alkaline
hydrolysis. Sizing was done on rovings to measure the cohesion
between fibers, on yarns and fabrics to determine the changes in
strength and abrasion resistance due to sizing. Polyester/cotton
(65/35) rovings (70s Hank) and yarns (15s Ne) were supplied by
Mount Vernon Mills, Mauldin, S.C. Cotton used in the P/C blend was
strict low middling with average length of 27 mm. Polyester fibers
in the blend were of 1.4 denier, 38 mm cut length, breaking tenacity
of 6.5 g/den and 27.8% elongation. Polyester (100%) rovings and
yarns used in the study were supplied by Shuford Yarns LLC,
Hickory, NC. Fabrics (P/C type 7435) and 100% polyester (Dacron
type 54) were purchased from Test Fabrics Inc., West Pittston, PA.
Two types of commercially available PVA based sizes (named PVA 1
and PVA 2) were obtained from major sizing chemical
manufacturers in the United States to compare the properties of the
feather sized materials. PVA 1 was a fully hydrolyzed copolymer
with a molecular weight (Mw) of approximately 65 kDa. Viscosity
of PVA 1 at 20  C was 11.6e15.4 mPas at 4% solid content. PVA 2
containing 80e85% PVA had a hydrolysis value between 88 and 96%
and a viscosity of 14e25 mPas for 4% solid content at 20  C. Sodium
hydroxide and other chemicals required for the study were ob-
tained from VWR international, Bristol, CT.
2.2. Preparation of the keratin sizing solution
Feathers were pre-treated in alkaline solution to dissolve the
feathers and obtain keratin. Pre-treatment was done by heating the
feathers in alkaline solution (0.25e1%) at 90  C for 30 min. After
heating, the solution was filtered, pH of the solution adjusted be-
tween 8 and 10 and the solution was reheated to 90  C. The rovings
and yarns wound onto frames were placed in shallow plates and
sized at 90  C for 5 min. After sizing, the materials were allowed to
dry at 21  C and 65% relative humidity. Fabrics were also sized
similarly, except that after sizing, the fabrics were passed through a
laboratory padder to ensure constant pick-up and penetration of
size into the fabrics. PVA based sized were applied onto the rovings,
yarns and fabrics based on the manufacturers recommended con-
ditions (heating 1e2% PVA in water and sizing at 90  C).
A two-step pre-treatment was used to prepare the sizing solu-
tion for polyester rovings. Since extraction of keratin from the
feathers required higher concentrations of alkali (up to 100% by
weight of feathers), considerable amounts of acid (hydrochloric
acid) was added to reduce the pH of the solution to 7e9 after the
initial pre-treatment. Addition of the strong acid into the strong
alkali solution resulted in formation of salts in the solution. After
sizing, salt on the polyester rovings caused high moisture sorption
during conditioning and decreased the mechanical properties
considerably. To decrease the amount of salts in the sizing solution,
a two-step pre-treatment was used. Initially, feathers (10%) were
soaked in 1% NaOH for 12 h at room temperature. Feathers were
later washed thoroughly in warm water to remove the alkali until
the pH of the feather was 7. Later, the keratin obtained were dried
and used for sizing by treating with 0.25% alkali for 1 h at 95  C.
Sizing of the roving was done as described earlier. Samples were
dried in an oven at 105  C for 3 h and their dry weight was deter-
mined before and after sizing. Amount of size (add-on, %) on the
materials was calculated based on the difference in weight of the
samples before and after sizing using Equation (1).
Add  on; % ¼ ½ðWa  WbÞ=Wb  100 (1)
where, Wa is the dry weight of the samples after sizing and Wb is
the dry weight of the samples before sizing.
Viscosity of the sizing solution was determined on a Brookfield
(R/S plus) rheometer using a CC-25 spindle and cup. Measurements
in terms of mPas were taken with solution concentration between
0.25 and 2% for 1 h, maintaining the temperature of the solution at
90  C using a water bath.
2.3. Property evaluation
2.3.1. Cohesion test
Ability of the size to adhere to the fibers was evaluated in terms
of cohesive strength of the rovings. Since rovings are a loose as-
sembly of fibers that have almost no strength, increase in roving
strength would be a good indicator of the adhesion/cohesion be-
tween fibers (Stegmaier et al., 2008) Tensile properties of rovings
were tested on an MTS tensile tester (MTS Corporation, Eden
Prairie, MN, Model: Q Test 10) using a load cell of 500 N and
 N. Reddy et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 65 (2014) 561e567
Fig. 1. Influence of concentration of alkali used during pre-treatment on the tensile
properties of the polyester and P/C rovings. Feathers were pre-treated at 90  C for
30 min, pH of the solution during sizing was 8 and the add-on (%) on the roving was
10%. Data points having statistically significant difference have been represented with
different alphabets.
traverse speed of 50 mm min1 and gauge length of 10 cm. Yarn
strength was measured on an Instron tensile tester (Model 4444)
using a gauge length of 10 cm and crosshead speed of 18 mm min1.
At least 25 samples from each condition were tested and each
experimental condition was repeated three times. Average and 
one standard deviation between the three experiments were
calculated and reported here.
2.3.2. Abrasion resistance
Abrasion resistance was measured on both fabrics and yarns.
Sized fabrics were tested for abrasion resistance on a CSI Universal
Wear Tester using “0” emery sand paper. Standard weight of 454 g
for the polyester fabrics and 227 g for the P/C fabrics were used.
2.3.3. Film properties
Keratin films were prepared by heating 6% feather in 0.25% alkali
solution at 95  C for 1 h. After heating, the pH of the solution was
adjusted to 8 and the solution (200 g) was cast onto Teflon coated
plates. Glycerol (10% on weight of feathers) was added to reduce the
brittleness of the keratin films. The solution was dried at 21  C and
Fig. 2. Influence of pH of the sizing solution on the tensile properties of the polyester
and P/C rovings. Feathers were pre-treated at 90  C for 30 min using 0.5% NaOH and
the add-on (%) on the roving was 10%. Data points having statistically significant dif-
ference have been represented with different alphabets.
563
Fig. 3. Comparison of the performance of the P/C and polyester rovings at different
humidities. Sizing was done at 90  C for 30 min and the add-on (%) was 10%.
65% relative humidity for about 48 h before being peeled off from
the plates. Films were tested for tensile strength and elongation on
an MTS tensile tester according to ASTM standard D 882. At least 10
sample each from three separately cast films were tested and the
average and  one standard deviation were reported.
2.3.4. Biodegradation
2.3.4.1. COD and BOD5. Biodegradability of the keratin solutions in
activated sludge was evaluated by measuring the changes in
Chemical oxygen Demand (COD), 5-day Biochemical Oxygen De-
mand (BOD5) and total and ammonia nitrogen. COD and BOD5 were
measured according to the American Public Health Association
Standards. Activated sludge was collected from the local waste
water treatment plant and acclimatized in the laboratory for 48 h.
Keratin and PVA solutions (300 ppm) were prepared and about
35 ml of activated sludge collected from the waste water treatment
plant was added along with nutrient buffers. COD of the diluted
activated sludge added into the keratin and PVA solutions was low
(about 20 mg L1) to ensure that the sludge did not interfere with
the biodegradation measurements. Treatment of the keratin and
PVA solution was continued for up to twelve days and oxygen was
pumped into the containers to maintain the aerobic conditions.
Samples were taken about every 24 h from the containers and the
Fig. 4. Comparison of the abrasion resistance of the polyester and P/C fabrics treated
with keratin and PVA at different add-on (%). Sizing was done at 90  C for 30 min and
the pH of the keratin solution was 8. In each curve, data points with different alphabets
denote statistically significant difference.
564 N. Reddy et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 65 (2014) 561e567
COD, BOD5 and total and ammonia nitrogen were determined. COD
was determined according to US EPA Standard 8000 reactor
digestion method using the HACH test kit (TNT plus 822). BOD5 was
determined by measuring the concentration of dissolved oxygen
before and after incubation for 5 days in the dark at 20  C. Con-
centration of the PVA and keratin for the BOD5 tests was also
300 ppm and it was ensured that the dilution water used had an
oxygen consumption of less than 0.2 mg L1. Nutrient buffers were
added as prescribed in the standard procedures.
2.3.4.1.1. Total and ammonia nitrogen. Total and ammonia ni-
trogen released from the feather keratin during degradation in
activated sludge was measured to determine if the keratin would
impede the biodegradation. An alkaline persulfate oxidation
digestion method was used to determine the ammonia content. In
this method, salicylate and hypochlorite in an alkaline a sodium
nitroferricyanide buffer turn the effluent water green and the in-
tensity of the color is proportional to the amount of ammonia in the
sample. To determine the amount of nitrogen released during
degradation, about 50 g L1 of salicylic acid and potassium sodium
tartrate each, 0.32 mol L1, 10 g L1 of sodium nitroferricyanide and
sodium hypochlorite solution (3.5 g L1 active chlorine,
0.75 mol L1 free alkali) were added. After addition the sludge was
allowed to stand for 1 h at room temperature and samples were
drawn and measured for absorbance at 697 nm in a spectropho-
tometer (Beckman Coulter, CU 920). At least three samples were
drawn for each time point and a calibration curve prepared with
known concentrations of nitrogen were used to determine the ni-
trogen released due to the degradation of the feathers.
To determine total nitrogen, samples drawn from the activated
sludge containing keratin were added with 40 g L1 of potassium
persulfate,15 g L1 of sodium hydroxide and the samples were digested
at 120  C for 40 min. The digestion was terminated by adding 1 ml HCl
and the absorbance of the solution at 220 and 275 nm were measured
on a spectrophotometer. Concentration of the total nitrogen was
calculated based on the absorbance values using a calibration curve.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Film properties
Keratin films obtained in this research had a low breaking load
of 1 MPa, elongation of 1.3% and modulus of 334 MPa compared to
PVA films that had much higher breaking stress (24.3  3.9 MPa)
and elongation (278  34%). Inferior strength and elongation of the
keratin films should mainly be due to the lower molecular weight
and hydrophilicity of the keratin compared to PVA. Although ker-
atin films were considerably weaker and brittle compared to PVA
films, keratin had good adhesion to the fibers, especially cotton and
therefore provided better sizing performance as discussed below.
Table 1
Comparison of the desizing ability (size removal) of the feather keratin and PVA on
polyester and P/C fabrics under various desizing conditions.
Type of Desizing conditions % Size removed
fabrics
Temp Time, Water to fabric ratio # Of

C min rinses
Washing Rinsing Keratin
Polyester 90 5 5:1 5:1 1 92.63.7
5:1 5:1 2 99.4  0.5
10:1 5:1 1 97.8  3.8
20 5 10:1 5:1 1 100
P/C 90 5 5:1 5:1 1 89.8  4.0
5:1 5:1 2 99.3  1.2
10:1 5:1 1 100
20 5 10:1 5:1 1 95.1  2.6
Fig. 5. Comparison of the biodegradation of chicken feather keratin and PVA
(300 ppm) in activated sludge measured in terms of the changes in the COD and BOD5.
3.2. Viscosity of the sizing solution
Pre-treating the chicken feathers in various concentrations of
alkali at 90  C for 30 min dissolved the feathers and provided keratin
solution with viscosity of 1.5 mPas compared to 2 mPas for PVA. The
viscosity of the keratin solution was considerably lower than that of
chitosan (20e140 mPas) suggesting that higher concentrations of
keratin solution could be used for sizing (Stegmaier et al., 2008).
3.3. Effect of alkali concentration
Keratin obtained using higher concentrations (1%) of alkali
provided considerably lower strength to both the P/C and polyester
rovings as seen from Fig. 1. Considerable hydrolysis of the feathers
occurred when 1% NaOH was used and therefore the strength of the
rovings was lower compared to the respective strength at 0.25 and
0.5% alkali. A similar trend was also observed for the elongation of
the rovings. Although alkali concentrations lower than 0.25% may
increase the strength of the rovings, feathers did not dissolve
completely when the alkali concentration was lower than 0.25%.
Compared to plant proteins such as soy proteins and wheat gluten
that were studied as potential sizing agents, much higher concen-
tration of alkali was required to dissolve the feathers since feathers
are highly crosslinked with cysteine linkages (Chen et al., 2013a,b).
3.4. Effect of pH of sizing solution
pH of the sizing solution affected the tensile strength and
elongation of polyester rovings but the properties of the P/C rovings
did not show any significant change with changes in pH as seen
from Fig. 2. Both strength and elongation of the polyester roving
were lower at pH 7 and increased with increasing pH up to 10.
Considerable amounts of acid were added to obtain pH 7 sizing
solution after pre-treatment with 0.5% NaOH. Addition of the acid
into the alkaline solution resulted in the formation of salt which
changes the attraction between the proteins and the fibers and also
makes the proteins more hydrophilic. Therefore, there would be
PVA
less binding (cohesion) between the polyester fibers and feathers at
76.7  4.6 pH 7 and the higher amounts of moisture on keratin would also
95.7  3.8
reduce the attraction towards the hydrophobic fibers leading to
99.4  1.0
61.5  3.4
lower strength and elongation. At high pH (11), there is little salt
77.0  4.3 and considerable repulsion between the fibers and the protein
100 solution and therefore lower strength and elongation. A pH range of
100 8e10 was found to be most suitable for sizing polyester with
82.3  3.9
feather keratin. P/C rovings were relatively unaffected by the pH of
 N. Reddy et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 65 (2014) 561e567
Fig. 6. Total and ammonia nitrogen released from the feather keratin during degra-
dation in activated sludge.
the sizing solution because cotton had good attraction to the ker-
atin solution at all the pHs studied.
3.5. Effect of humidity on tensile properties
Relative humidity had a significant influence on the strength
and elongation of both polyester and P/C rovings treated with
keratin as seen from Fig. 3. While the strength of the P/C roving
increased with increasing humidity, the strength of the polyester
rovings decreased at high (75%) humidity. Similar trend was
observed for the elongation of the rovings. At low humidity (55%),
the keratin films on the fibers are brittle and therefore the rovings
have lower strength and elongation. Increasing humidity increases
moisture on the films and provides better flexibility to the rovings
leading to higher strength and elongation. However, when the
humidity if 75%, there is probably excessive moisture on keratin
that increased the repulsion between the hydrophobic polyester
and hydrophilic proteins. This could decrease the strength and
elongation of the polyester rovings at 75% humidity.
3.6. Abrasion resistance
Keratin size on polyester fabrics provided substantially higher
abrasion resistance whereas abrasion resistance of P/C fabrics treated
Fig. 7. Comparison of the performance of the keratin size on P/C and polyester rovings
at different add-on (%) with two different commercially available PVA based sizes.
565
with keratin was lower compared to PVA as seen from Fig. 4. There
was a continual increase in abrasion resistance with increase in add-
on (%) but the increase on polyester fabrics was considerably higher
compared to the same fabrics treated with PVA. Even at a percentage
add-on of 1.9%, the polyester fabrics treated with keratin had sub-
stantially higher resistance of 660 cycles. Further increase in add-on
up to 6% did not show any appreciable increase until about 8% add-
on when the abrasion resistance increased to 1035 cycles. Contrary
to the changes in abrasion resistance seen on polyester fabrics, the P/C
fabrics treated with keratin had lower abrasion resistance than PVA
treated fabrics at all the add-ons (%) studied. Highest abrasion resis-
tance obtained on P/C fabrics treated with keratin was 99 cycles (add-
on 8.3%) compared to 250 cycles for PVA at an add-on of 7.6%. Abrasion
resistance is related to the film forming properties of the sizing so-
lution. Since there was low attraction between the hydrophilic keratin
and hydrophobic polyester fibers, most of the sizing solution would
have remained on the surface forming a thick film when the solution
was dried. Cotton in the P/C fabrics would have absorbed the sizing
solution and the solution had penetrated inside with relatively
thinner film on the surface. Therefore, the polyester fabrics treated
with keratin had higher and the P/C fabrics lower abrasion resistance
compared to PVA. This result is contrary to the roving strength im-
provements where the polyester rovings had lower and the P/C rov-
ings similar strength compared to PVA. Poor attraction and therefore
poor adhesion between polyester and keratin causes the polyester
rovings to have lower strength but the film formation on the surface
provides good abrasion resistance.
3.7. Desizing
Size applied onto fibers should be easily removed (desized) after
weaving. Desizing of starch is done using enzymes whereas PVA
can be desized using hot water (70e90  C), one of the benefits of
using PVA as warp size (Du et al., 2007). Ideally, size removal must
be >90% and should not require additional chemicals and high
temperature. As seen from Table 1, keratin can be easily desized
from both polyester and P/C fabrics with low amounts of water
even at room temperature. A 100% removal of keratin was observed
for polyester fabrics when desized at 20  C for 5 min with a fabric to
water ratio of 1:10 compared to 62% removal for PVA under similar
desizing conditions. Alternatively, complete removal of the size was
also obtained when the desizing was done at 90  C for 5 min but
using 1:5 ratio of water and two rinses. In the case of P/C fabrics,
size removal varied from 90 to 100% depending on the temperature
and washing and rinsing conditions used. A desizing efficiency of
95% was obtained when the fabrics were treated at 20  C for 5 min
with a fabric to water ratio of 1:10 compared to 82% removal for
PVA. Keratin was easily desized from both the polyester and poly-
cotton fabrics without using high temperatures or large amounts
of water suggesting that sizing with keratin would save energy,
reduce costs and benefit the environment.
3.8. Biodegradability
Poor degradability of PVA in textile waste water treatment
plants is the primary reason for the efforts to find biodegradable
substitutes. As seen from Fig. 5, PVA had marginal decrease in COD
from 399 mg L1 to 308 mg L1 after treating in activated sludge for
3 days whereas the keratin solution showed continued decrease in
COD until 12 days. There was a 70% decrease in COD for the keratin
solution and a 30% decrease for the PVA solution during the period
studied. PVA size had an initial BOD5 of 17 mg1 and reduced to
2 mg L1 after three days of degradation suggesting that there was
no further biodegradable material left in the PVA size. In the case of
keratin, the BOD5 before treating in the sludge was 76 mg L1 and
566 N. Reddy et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 65 (2014) 561e567
continued to decrease to 5 mg L1 after 12 days. Although the COD
values for keratin were considerably lower than that of PVA, there
was some non-biodegradable material present in the feathers since
the COD values was more than 100 mg L1 after 12 days of degra-
dation and when the BOD5 was lower than 100. Addition of fresh
sludge into the keratin solution after 6 days did not result in further
decrease in COD also suggesting that some portion of the keratin
was non-biodegradable. However, the concentration of the sludge
used for biodegradation in this study was considerably low
compared to the levels existing in textile effluent plants and a much
higher concentration of PVA and keratin (300 ppm) than found in
textile waste water treatment plants was used in the study.
Therefore, under practical sizing conditions, it is anticipated that
keratin would be easily degradable in textile waste water treatment
plants based on the changes in COD and BOD5 observed.
Presence of high levels of proteins is reported to be undesirable
in waste water treatment plants due to the inhibition of microor-
ganisms by the ammonia released from proteins during degrada-
tion. Fig. 6 shows the amount of total and ammonia nitrogen
released from the keratin during the 6 days of treatment in acti-
vated sludge. There is a sharp decline in the total nitrogen after
treating in the sludge for up to 3 days and the total nitrogen later
stabilized. A corresponding increase in ammonia nitrogen was seen
until day 4 and then the ammonia nitrogen released from the
keratin decreased sharply. It should be noted that the amount of
total and ammonia nitrogen released is negligible and should not
inhibit the biodegradation of the sludge. Based on the changes in
COD, BOD5, total and ammonia nitrogen, it is clear that feather
keratin had considerably better biodegradation in activated sludge
compared to PVA demonstrating the potential to replace PVA for
textile warp sizing and offers a potential solution to decrease the
sizing related pollution from the textile industry.
3.9. Comparison of the performance of chicken feather keratin as
size with PVA
Fig. 7 provides a comparison of the tensile strength of the P/C
and polyester sized rovings treated with feather keratin and two
commercially available PVA based sizing agents. P/C rovings sized
with feather keratin provided similar strength compared to PVA 1
and higher strength than PVA 2 but at a relatively higher add-on %.
Highest strength provided by PVA 1 on P/C rovings was 225 N at an
add-on of 13% and 176 N at an add-on of 10% for PVA 2. Keratin
solution provided a highest strength of 217 N at an add-on of 18%
but the strength was relatively low (111 N) at add-on of 10%. Higher
amount of keratin solution was required to provide strength
improvement comparable to PVA because of the lower strength and
elongation of the keratin films compared to PVA films.
Strength improvement provided by the keratin solution on
polyester rovings was slightly inferior compared to both the PVAs
studied. At similar add-on (10e11%), the rovings sized with keratin
had strength of 169 N compared to 190 N for PVA 1 and 188 N for
PVA 2. Lower strength provided by the keratin solution on the
polyester rovings should be due to the poor attraction between
polyester and keratin. Since the roving strength is a measure of
cohesion between fibers, poor attraction means less binding and
therefore lower strength. Although PVA size provided higher
strength of the rovings, the difference between PVA and the keratin
size under the optimize condition was about 20N which may not be
significant in terms of performance on the weaving machines. In
addition, the commercial sizing agents contain additives such as
plasticizers, preservatives and stabilizing agents that help to
improve the performance properties. Such additives could also be
added into the keratin size to improve the performance properties
on polyester and/or to obtain similar increase in strength but at
lower add-on. Since keratins can be derived from coproducts with
limited use and at almost no cost and the size preparation only used
alkali solution, the keratin size would still be highly competitive
price-wise to PVA even if higher add-on (%) are required.
4. Conclusions
Keratin obtained from chicken feathers after treating with alkali
was found to be highly effective as sizing agents. At similar add-on
(%), abrasion resistance of polyester fabrics treated with keratin was
considerably higher but P/C fabrics were lower compared to PVA.
Our results demonstrate that cohesion between fibers is more
critical to obtain good improvement in strength and the ability of
the sizing solution to form films on the surface influences the
abrasion resistance. Keratin solutions were easily biodegradable in
activated sludge and there was negligible release of total and
ammonia nitrogen. Overall, chicken feather keratin as warp size
would be inexpensive, biodegradable and provide good sizing
performance and therefore be ideal substitute to PVA.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Agricultural Research Division, Multi-State
Project S1054 (NEB37-037), USDA Hatch Act at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln and Chinese National High Technology Research
and Development Program 863 Project (2013AA06A307), the
Doctoral Dissertation Innovation Program BC201040, Fundamental
Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2011D10543) of
Donghua University for providing the financial support to complete
this work. Living expenses provided by the China Scholarship
Council for Lihong Chen are also gratefully acknowledged.
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