Turning Discarded Agricultural Remnants and Poultry Waste into Usable Hybrid Polymer Matrix Reinforcements: An Experimental Study

The primary objective of the present study was to transform discarded agricultural remnants and poultry waste into value-added materials. Rice straw and chicken feathers are disposed of after their primary consumption into landfills or are incinerated, causing pollution and environmental threats. In this study, epoxy composites were fabricated using different volume proportions (5–45%) of these raw and alkali-treated remnants, and their mechanical strength was tested. The flexural strength of the rice straw composites and chicken feather composites initially decreased with the addition of fibers from 5 to 35 vol% and then the values increased when the fiber content was more than 35 vol%. The chicken feather composites showed increased impact strength with fiber addition. Alkali treatment of the rice straw resulted in improved flexural and impact strengths of the composites due to the removal of the waxy layer on the fiber surface, which was observed in the FTIR studies. Alkali treatment of the chicken feathers did not produce any significant change in the flexural strength of the composites, but their impact strength increased with fiber addition. Hybrid composites fabricated using rice straw and chicken feathers exhibited enhanced flexural and impact strength properties both with and without the alkali treatment, corroborating the synergistic effect of these fibers. SEM analysis of the fractured samples showed noteworthy interfacial adhesion between the fibers and matrix. This study presents a better method for converting these disposable materials into value-added usable materials and increasing their life cycle in the circular economy.