Spent
hens, a poultry by-product, have little economic value for
processing and mostly end up in landfills. However, there are concerns
over disposal of spent hens; therefore, it is pertinent to find out
alternative uses that are environmentally sound. On the other hand,
single-use plastic packaging is leading to a global environmental
crisis. In this study, proteins were extracted from spent hen, plasticized,
and processed into films by compression molding. The hybrid bionanocomposite
films were successfully prepared using glycerol as a plasticizer,
chitosan as a cross-linker, and varying concentrations of nanoclay
as a nanoreinforcement. The effects of nanoreinforcements, plasticization,
and cross-linking were then evaluated on thermal, mechanical, and
barrier properties of the prepared bionanocomposite films. Various
concentrations of nanoclay and chitosan were dispersed in the protein
matrix. However, with the same plasticizer loading, the optimum addition
of chitosan and nanoclay led to almost twofold increase in the mechanical
strength, compared to neat protein films. The results indicated that
at optimal conditions, a good intercalation and/or exfoliation of
the protein biopolymers into clay interlayer galleries was observed
leading to improved thermal, thermomechanical, and barrier properties.
These hybrid bionanocomposite films have great future potential to
be used in packaging and other applications.