Journal of Cleaner Production 11 (2003) 321326

www.cleanerproduction.net

Beneficial reuse of chicken feathers in removal of heavy metals

from wastewater
Sameer Al-Asheh , Fawzi Banat, Deaya Al-Rousan
Department of Chemical Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, PO Box 3030, Irbid 22110, Jordan

Received 15 September 2001; accepted 20 March 2002

Abstract

Natural and chemically treated chicken feathers (CF) were tested for their ability, as adsorbents, to remove copper and zinc from
wastewater. Alkaline solutions of 0.2 N NaOH were found to be the best for the sorption process and a 0.6 wt% solution of dodecyl
sulfate, as anionic surfactant, also gave best adsorption results. Treatment of CF with alkaline solutions adsorb more metal ions
than those treated with the anionic surfactant followed by the untreated CF. Generally, the kinetics of the removal process by all
tested sorbents was fast. The Freundlich isotherm model was found to represent the equilibrium results, of all adsorbents toward
copper and zinc, reasonably well.
2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Chicken feathers; Alkaline treatment; Anionic surfactant; Adsorption; Freundlich isotherm

1. Introduction zinc from aqueous solutions [3] and chicken-feathers

Adsorption is one of the most important methods
known for cleaning waste industrial effluents. These
effluents normally contain pollutants that may harm the
environment. Therefore it is necessary to clean the waste
from these pollutants before being discharged. Heavy
metals are among these pollutants. Owing to the harmful
effects of heavy metals to human beings and to aquatic
life, permissible limits have been set by environmental
authorities for different kinds of waters.
The use of plant and animal products and by-products
as sorbents has become familiar for many researchers in
the field of environmental engineering. These materials
can be used, either directly or after activation, in the
adsorption processes. Many examples are available in
the literature concerning the direct use of these materials
as adsorbents, for example, leaf mould has been used for
the adsorption of chromium from aqueous solutions [1],
sphagnum peat moss was used in adsorption of copper
[2], rice milling by-products (hulls and bran) was util-
ized to remove chromium, cobalt, copper, nickel and
Corresponding author. Fax +962-2-7095018.
E-mail address: alasheh@just.edu.jo (S. Al-Asheh).
were used for the removal of phenol from aqueous sol-
utions [4]. These materials, as well as many other
examples, were used in the sorption process without any
pre-treatments.
Different activation methods have been reported in the
literature to increase the sorption capacity of adsorbents.
These activation methods may be classified into physical
and chemical methods. Physical activation is usually
used for carbonaceous agricultural solid wastes to pro-
duce activated carbon [5]. The process for preparing acti-
vated carbon usually involves two stages, namely car-
bonization and activation. In the first stage, the starting
materials are carbonized under an inert atmosphere (such
as nitrogen or helium gas) at a moderate temperature to
produce chars with rudimentary pore structures. Sub-
sequently, in the second stage, the resulting chars are
subjected to partial gasification at a higher temperature
(around 900C) with steam (H2O) or carbon dioxide
(CO2) to produce final products with well-developed and
accessible internal structures [5]. The second activation
method is a chemical method, which depends on treating
the sorbent with certain chemical agents before the sorp-
tion process. Several chemical treatment methods are
known. For example, chemical activation by the use of
alkali and alkaline Na2S solution for treating human hair

0959-6526/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 5 9 - 6 5 2 6 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 4 5 - 8
322 S. Al-Asheh et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 11 (2003) 321326
[6], the use of HCl, H2SO4, NaOH, and mixtures of
NaOH and Na2S for treating human hair [7], the use of
quaternary ammonium cations for treating smectite clay
[8], and the use of anionic surfactant to treat waste tea
leaves [9]. These chemical treatments are normally done
on these materials before using them in the adsorption
processes.
In previous investigations, chicken-feathers (CF) were
tested for their ability to adsorb phenol [4]. It has been
shown that CF treated with NaOH had higher adsorption
capacity than that of untreated CF [4]. The high avail-
ability of CF as a waste makes it a good candidate as a
low cost adsorbent. Feathers represent four to six per-
centage of the total weight of mature chickens and are
generated in huge quantities as a waste by-product at
commercial poultry processing plants [10].
In this work, comparison between the sorption
capacity of Zn2+ and Cu2+ by inactivated and chemically
activated CF is investigated. The equilibrium isotherm
for different types of CF, namely, inactivated ones,
anionic surfactant treated CF and alkaline treated CF,
are presented using the Freundlich model.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Adsorbent
Chicken feathers were collected from poultry pro-
cessing facilities. Some of the materials attached to the
feathers were first removed, through several washings
with tap water and detergent and were then left in the
open air for several days to get rid of odors. The usual
steps for the preparation of adsorbents have been fol-
lowed in this work. However, because it is difficult to
disintegrate the chicken feathers by normal crushing
techniques, they have been frozen by liquid nitrogen
before cutting into small sizes using an electrical cutter.
These steps are summarized in a flow diagram presented
in Fig. 1. The resulting CF treated with alkaline or sur-
factant treatments were used in the adsorption processes.
Fig. 1. Flow diagram for the preparation of the chicken feather sorbents.
2.1.1. Treatment with alkaline solutions
Different solutions of NaOH and Na2S in the range
0.050.4 N and 0.050.3 N, respectively, were prepared.
Different ratios of these chemical reagents were mixed
together to make a solution of 400 ml. Samples of 2
g of CF were immersed in the latter solution and then
maintained in a shaker for certain periods of time. After
that, the solution was filtered and the sorbent was
removed and washed several times with distilled water.
The treated fiber was filtered and dried to be used later
in sorption experiments.
2.2. Treatment of chicken feathers with anionic
surfactants
In this work, sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS),
CH3(CH2)11SO4Na+, was selected as an anionic surfac-
tant to test if the sorption capacity of CF, treated with
this surfactant, can be enhanced. Two hundred milliliters
of surfactant solution, in the concentration range 140%,
were mixed with 20 g of CF. This suspension was sub-
jected to agitation for 24 hours. The treated CF were
then separated from the solution by filtration, washed
several times with distilled water, dried at 70C, and
then stored for further use in the sorption experiments.
2.3. Batch sorption experiments
Copper solutions in the concentration range 1050
ppm, and zinc solutions in the concentration range 20
100 ppm were prepared from copper sulphate
(CuSO4.5H2O) and zinc sulphate (ZnSO4.7H2O),
respectively. Certain amounts of solutions were trans-
ferred to 50 ml bottles. After that, an amount of sorbent
was added to make final concentrations of 5 mg/ml. The
suspension was agitated in a shaker and samples were
taken at various times. The sorbent was separated from
the samples by filtration (Whatman filter paper No. 4).
Then, the supernatant was analyzed for metal concen-
tration using atomic absorption spectrophotometer
(Spectro AA10).
 S. Al-Asheh et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 11 (2003) 321326
To determine the number of replicates that should be
carried out in this study, six identical systems of either
copper or zinc, at the same conditions, were tested. It
was observed that five of the six samples were within
6% while one of them was significantly out of the range.
Considering this, each experiment was carried out in
duplicate and the average results are presented in this
work if they did not differ by more than 6%.
2.4. Equilibrium isotherm experiments
Equilibrium experiments were performed by using
metal solutions at different initial concentrations. The
experiments were performed by transferring 50 ml of
metal solutions into bottles. A 0.25 g of sorbent was
added to the solution to make the final sorbent concen-
tration 5 mg/ml; the suspension was agitated in a shaker
for 24 hours to ensure the attainment of equilibrium. The
sorbent was separated and the metal under consideration
was analyzed as mentioned previously.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Treatment with alkaline solutions
3.1.1. Effect of pretreatment conditions
The objective of the pretreatment reagent is to
increase the porosity of the keratin structure in order to
increase the accessibility of the fiber for the metal ions
to diffuse into the active sites [7]. In this study, different
concentrations and ratios of NaOH and Na2S were used
to study the effect of pretreatment reagents on the sorp-
tion of copper by CF.
The results (Table 1) show that the increase in the
Na2S concentration leads to a decrease in the uptake of
copper by the treated CF. It was demonstrated that as
the soaking time increases the metal uptake decreases
(Table 1). Increasing the NaOH concentration remark-
ably enhanced the sorption capacity, as can be concluded
from Table 1. It was also observed that when NaOH is
present alone in the solution, the increase in sorption
capacity occurs up to 0.2 N NaOH and decreases after
that. It is, therefore, seen that soaking CF with NaOH
alone is better than using a mixture of NaOH and Na2S.
The best concentration of NaOH was 0.2 N with 10 min
soaking time. The uptake of copper after treatment with
this solution was three times greater than without treat-
ment with NaOH.
When Na2S concentrations were greater than 0.5 N,
it was observed that CF became soluble in the solution
with great loss of hardness properties. It was also found,
during the experiment, that increasing the NaOH con-
centration leads to increases in the degree of softness of
the used CF which is the reason for increasing the
uptake.
323
3.1.2. Kinetics of copper and zinc uptakes by CF
treated with alkaline solutions
Based on the results presented in Table 1, a 0.2 N
NaOH solution and 10 min soaking time was used for
treating CF. The effect of initial copper and zinc concen-
trations on the uptake kinetics by treated CF were stud-
ied. The results (Figs 2 and 3) reveal that there is a mar-
ginal change in the concentration after the first 20 min
of the sorption process. This indicates a fast sorption
process. This trend might be attributed to the decrease
in the cross-linkage of the keratin fibers of the chicken
feathers after treatment with NaOH. The decrease in the
linkages makes the functional groups that might be
responsible for the sorption process more accessible at
the surface rather than the pores of the feathers only.
It was also observed (Figs 2 and 3) that as the metal
concentration increases, the uptake of the metal
increased. This trend can be explained by the progressive
increase in electrostatic interaction relative to covalent
interactions, of sites that have lower affinity for Cu2+ or
Zn2+ with an increase of its initial concentrations [11].
This trend is similar to that obtained by many
researchers. For example, the use of different inorganic
and biological sorbents like Aureobasidium pullulans
and Saccharomyces cerevisiae [12], and the use of
decaying leaves for the removal of Pb2+ from aqueous
solutions [13]. Also the removal of Cu2+ by E-Radiata
[14] and the removal of Hg2+ by Hardwicia Binata bark
[15] showed similar results.
3.2. Treatment with anionic surfactants
3.2.1. Effect of surfactant concentration
In this work, different concentrations of sodium dode-
cyl sulphate (SDS) [CH3(CH2)11SO4Na+] were used in
treating CF, in order to find the optimal surfactant con-
centration to be used in the sorption experiments. The
surfactant concentrations in the pretreatment solution
tested were in the range 140 wt%. As is presented (Fig.
4), as surfactant concentration in the solution increased
up to 6 wt% the amount of copper removed also
increased. After this concentration, increasing the surfac-
tant concentration did not increase sorption. This is
because at this surfactant concentration (6 wt%), it is
believed that the sorbent surface becomes saturated with
negative charges, and the increase in surfactant concen-
tration does not further increase the sorption capacity.
3.2.2. Kinetics of copper and zinc uptakes by CF
treated with SDS
Based on the results presented in Figs. 4, 6 wt% of
SDS solution can be used for treating CF. The kinetics
of copper and zinc uptakes at different concentrations
are shown in Figs 5 and 6, respectively. The results
showed that most of the metal removal occurs during
the first 20 min of the sorption process, and after that
324 S. Al-Asheh et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 11 (2003) 321326

Table 1
Pretreatment and the equilibrium concentration of copper using pre-treated chicken feathers with NaOH and Na2S. Initial copper concentration:
110 ppm; sorbent concentration: 5 mg/ml; soaking time: 10 min

NaOH (N) Na2S (N) Equilibrium concentration (ppm) at different soaking time

10 min 20 min 30 min

0.05 0 62.96 66.72 67.2

0.05 0.05 63.51 67.16 66.8
0.05 0.1 54.29 56.11 57.34
0.05 0.2 71.34 73.84 76.37
0.05 0.3 79.74 78.7 80.2
0.1 0 35.01 39.32 40.59
0.1 0.05 43.21 45.47 47.91
0.1 0.1 44.09 46.87 47.89
0.1 0.2 47.61 46.24 48.19
0.1 0.3 55.68 62.76 64.21
0.2 0 18.34 20.77 23.29
0.2 0.05 32.19 35.01 36.14
0.2 0.1 27.86 35.73 35.39
0.2 0.2 65.29 64.52 66.64
0.2 0.3 72.37 87.22 86.34
0.3 0 19.37 24.21 26.19
0.3 0.05 52.9 54.69 56.5
0.3 0.1 33.76 58.46 61.07
0.3 0.2 60.46 72.43 92.1
0.3 0.3 72.16 88.31 87.67
0.4 0 17.59 29.34 26.2

Fig. 2. Effect of copper concentration on uptake by CF treated with Fig. 3. Effect of zinc concentration on uptake by CF treated with
alkaline solutions. CF concentration: 5 mg/ml; initial copper concen- alkaline solutions. CF concentration: 5 mg/ml; initial zinc concen-
tration (ppm): 10, 20, 30, 40,50; NaOH: 0.2 N; soak- tration (ppm): 20,40,60, 80, 100; NaOH: 0.2 N; soak-
ing time: 10 min. ing time: 10 min.

there is a small change in uptake. This indicates that
most of the sorption occurs on the surface. This behavior
is similar to that in the case of alkaline-treated CF and,
therefore, the same explanation can be applied here.
3.2.3. Comparison between untreated and chemically
activated CF
The results of equilibrium isotherms for copper and
zinc removal using different types of CF are presented
in Figs 7 and 8, respectively. It is seen that the sorption
capacity of chemically treated chicken feathers is much
greater than that of untreated CF. These results also indi-
cate that CF treated with alkaline solutions leads to an
increase in sorption capacity more than in CF that have
been treated with anionic surfactant solutions.
The equilibrium isotherm results of Figs 7 and 8 were
found to be well described by the linearized Freundlich
isotherm model,
 S. Al-Asheh et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 11 (2003) 321326 325

Fig. 4. Variation of copper uptake with anionic surfactant concen- Fig. 7. Freundlich isotherms for sorption of copper by inactivated CF
tration having 6wt% SDS. Sorbent concentration: 5 mg/ml. (), CF treated with anionic surfactants (), and CF treated with alka-
line solutions () using sorbent concentration of 5 mg/ml.

Fig. 5. Effect of copper concentration on uptake by CF treated with

anionic surfactants solution. CF concentration 5 mg/ml; initial copper
concentration (ppm): 10, 20, 30, 40, 50. Fig. 8. Freundlich isotherms for sorption of zinc by inactivated CF
(), CF treated with anionic surfactants (), and CF treated with alka-
line solutions () using sorbent concentration of 5 mg/ml.

Fig. 6. Effect of zinc concentration on uptake by CF treated with

anionic surfactants solution. CF concentration: 5 mg/ml; initial zinc Fig. 9. Comparison between different forms of CF in the removal of
concentration (ppm): 20, 40, 60, 80, 100. copper. Sorbent concentration: 5 mg/ml.
326 S. Al-Asheh et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 11 (2003) 321326

Table 2
Freundlich constants for sorption of copper by chemically activated and non-activated chicken feathers using sorbent concentration of 5 mg/ml

Sorbent Metal kF 1/n R2

Chicken feathers treated with alkaline solutions Cu2+ 0.3909 0.43612 0.9932
Chicken feathers treated with anionic-surfactant 0.2945 0.5202 0.9988
Non-activated chicken feathers 0.1859 0.7767 0.9972
Chicken feathers treated with alkaline solutions Zn2+ 0.2306 0.5690 0.9985
Chicken feathers treated with an anionic-surfactant 0.1625 0.7622 0.9987
Non-activated chicken feathers 0.0977 0.5269 0.9973

1
ln qe ln kF ln Ce
n
where qe (mmol/g) is the uptake at the equilibrium con-
centration, Ce (mmol/l), and kF and 1/n are the Freund-
lich constants related to sorption capacity and sorption
intensity, respectively. The intercept and the slope of the
linear plot of lnqe versus lnCe at given experimental con-
ditions provide the values of kF and 1/n, respectively.
The Freundlich constants for both treated and
untreated CF are presented in Table 2. From the values
of kf, it can be concluded that chemically treated feathers
have twice the sorption capacity of the untreated fea-
thers. A comparison between the uptakes of these three
forms of chicken feathers at different concentrations of
copper and zinc are shown in Figs 9 and 10, respectively.
These figures give the following order of the sorption
capacity toward both metal ions, copper and zinc: alka-
line-treated CFanionic surfactant CFuntreated CF.
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