Experimental study of thermal pyrolysis of turkey feathers

The analysis of chemical composition of turkey feathers reveals over 50% mass content of carbon. Unfortunately, the feathers contain also over 13% by weight of nitrogen and over 2.5% of sulfur. The significant presence of nitrogen and sulfur in turkey feathers indicates potential danger to the environment. The experiments of thermal pyrolysis of turkey feathers were done from a perspective of energy production potential out of gaseous products. The products of thermal pyrolysis were mainly gas and liquid. The calorific value of pyrolysed feathers is comparable with the one of hard carbon. It gets higher for higher temperatures. The calorific value of gaseous products of turkey feathers at 850oC was maximum and it equalled 16.7 MJ/Nm3.