Global oil supplies are reducing, with experts believing the world’s supply could run out in the next 100 years. This has major implications for the polymer industry, which relies heavily on oil usage to produce plastics, despite issues with high energy usage, CO2 emissions and end of life pollution. Engineers have now started to review alternative methods such as using fillers or functional additives to replace high amounts of plastic feedstock or generation of biopolymers for complete elimination. Focus has been given to use waste materials, mainly from agricultural industries, for these applications. Poultry production has become one such industry which yields a range of waste materials, such as feathers, eggshell and bone, with elements and compounds potentially suitable for polymer research. The work carried out has investigated their potential.
| Date of Award | Dec 2019 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Awarding Institution | - Queen's University Belfast
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| Supervisor | Eoin Cunningham (Supervisor) & Beatrice Smyth (Supervisor) |
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- Polymer
- poultry
- waste
- bio -polymer
Development of novel bio-polymers derived from poultry waste streams
McGauran, T. (Author). Dec 2019
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy