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Development of Circularly Recyclable Low Melting Temperature Bicomponent Fibers toward a Sustainable Nonwoven Application

Guo, Zengwei ; Warlin, Niklas LU ; Mankar, Smita V. LU ; Sidqi, Mohamed ; Andersson, Mattias ; Zhang, Baozhong LU and Nilsson, Erik (2021) In ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering 9(49). p.16778-16785
Abstract

Sustainable low melting temperature bicomponent polyester fibers that can be circularly recycled were developed. The potentially biobased poly(hexamethylene terephthalate) (PHT), acting as the low melting temperature sheath material in the designed bicomponent fibers, was synthesized in a pilot scale. The obtained PHT with an intrinsic viscosity of 0.47 dL/g showed suitable processability when it was processed together with a poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) core in a melt-spinning process of bicomponent fibers. Compared with the commercial low melting temperature terephthalate-isophthalate copolyester LMP-160, PHT showed superior mechanical properties according to DMA analysis. The low melting temperature bicomponent fibers with a... (More)

Sustainable low melting temperature bicomponent polyester fibers that can be circularly recycled were developed. The potentially biobased poly(hexamethylene terephthalate) (PHT), acting as the low melting temperature sheath material in the designed bicomponent fibers, was synthesized in a pilot scale. The obtained PHT with an intrinsic viscosity of 0.47 dL/g showed suitable processability when it was processed together with a poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) core in a melt-spinning process of bicomponent fibers. Compared with the commercial low melting temperature terephthalate-isophthalate copolyester LMP-160, PHT showed superior mechanical properties according to DMA analysis. The low melting temperature bicomponent fibers with a ratio of the PBT core and PHT sheath at 70:30 were produced smoothly at 290 °C in a pilot melt-spinning line. Preliminary chemical recycling investigations by methanolysis revealed that PHT/PBT bicomponent fibers were completely depolymerized within 2 h at 200 °C, yielding pure terephthalate, which could be conveniently separated and recycled. This indicated the feasibility of circular recycling, which will greatly improve the sustainability of nonwovens thermally bonded by these new bicomponent fibers.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
chemical recycling, low melting temperature bicomponent fibers, melt spinning, nonwovens
in
ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
volume
9
issue
49
pages
8 pages
publisher
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85120614456
ISSN
2168-0485
DOI
10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c06302
project
STEPS – Sustainable Plastics and Transition Pathways, Phase 2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.
id
22a8468c-a1a8-4317-9611-7338a167d11c
date added to LUP
2022-01-26 10:48:39
date last changed
2022-08-12 02:57:29
@article{22a8468c-a1a8-4317-9611-7338a167d11c,
  abstract     = {{<p>Sustainable low melting temperature bicomponent polyester fibers that can be circularly recycled were developed. The potentially biobased poly(hexamethylene terephthalate) (PHT), acting as the low melting temperature sheath material in the designed bicomponent fibers, was synthesized in a pilot scale. The obtained PHT with an intrinsic viscosity of 0.47 dL/g showed suitable processability when it was processed together with a poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) core in a melt-spinning process of bicomponent fibers. Compared with the commercial low melting temperature terephthalate-isophthalate copolyester LMP-160, PHT showed superior mechanical properties according to DMA analysis. The low melting temperature bicomponent fibers with a ratio of the PBT core and PHT sheath at 70:30 were produced smoothly at 290 °C in a pilot melt-spinning line. Preliminary chemical recycling investigations by methanolysis revealed that PHT/PBT bicomponent fibers were completely depolymerized within 2 h at 200 °C, yielding pure terephthalate, which could be conveniently separated and recycled. This indicated the feasibility of circular recycling, which will greatly improve the sustainability of nonwovens thermally bonded by these new bicomponent fibers. </p>}},
  author       = {{Guo, Zengwei and Warlin, Niklas and Mankar, Smita V. and Sidqi, Mohamed and Andersson, Mattias and Zhang, Baozhong and Nilsson, Erik}},
  issn         = {{2168-0485}},
  keywords     = {{chemical recycling; low melting temperature bicomponent fibers; melt spinning; nonwovens}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{49}},
  pages        = {{16778--16785}},
  publisher    = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}},
  series       = {{ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering}},
  title        = {{Development of Circularly Recyclable Low Melting Temperature Bicomponent Fibers toward a Sustainable Nonwoven Application}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c06302}},
  doi          = {{10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c06302}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}