Use of Chicken Litter for In Situ Polymerization of Poly(Butylene Succinate) (PBS) Based Polymer Composites

In the recent years, the growing amounts and incorrect disposal of solid wastes have created serious negative environmental impacts, including land and water pollution. Chicken litter (CL) is a type of solid waste which is generated during chicken production, the appropriate final destination of which is still subject to technical discussion. Because CL is composed mostly of fibers, proteins, carbohydrates, and different minerals, the use of this material as a filler for the manufacture of polymer materials has been suggested. The main objective of the present work is the manufacture of polymer composites in situ polymerization using CL as a filler and succinic acid and 1,4-butanediol as monomers, considering that the fiber content in CL is ≈20 wt%. The obtained poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) composites are characterized by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), degradability in distilled water, and compression analyses. The results show that the addition of CL to the mixture do not affect the course of the polycondensation reaction significantly. Furthermore, compression tests show that the compressive strength of test pieces increases with the CL content.