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Reclaiming the Value of Cotton Waste Textiles: A New Improved Method to Recycle Cotton Waste Textiles via Acid Hydrolysis

Ruuth, Edvin LU ; Sanchis-Sebastiá, Miguel LU orcid ; Larsson, Per Tomas ; Teleman, Anita ; Jiménez-Quero, Amparo ; Delestig, Sara ; Sahlberg, Viktor ; Salén, Patricia ; Sanchez Ortiz, Marjorie and Vadher, Simran , et al. (2022) In Recycling 7(4).
Abstract
The fashion industry is becoming one of the largest emitters worldwide due to its high consumption of raw materials, its effluents, and the fact that every garment will eventually contribute to the vast amount of waste being incinerated or accumulating in landfills. Although fiber-to-fiber recycling processes are being developed, the mechanical properties of the textile fibers are typically degraded with each such recycle. Thus, tertiary recycling alternatives where textiles are depolymerized to convert them into valuable products are needed to provide end-of-life alternatives and to achieve circularity in the fashion industry. We have developed a method whereby cotton waste textiles are depolymerized to form a glucose solution, using... (More)
The fashion industry is becoming one of the largest emitters worldwide due to its high consumption of raw materials, its effluents, and the fact that every garment will eventually contribute to the vast amount of waste being incinerated or accumulating in landfills. Although fiber-to-fiber recycling processes are being developed, the mechanical properties of the textile fibers are typically degraded with each such recycle. Thus, tertiary recycling alternatives where textiles are depolymerized to convert them into valuable products are needed to provide end-of-life alternatives and to achieve circularity in the fashion industry. We have developed a method whereby cotton waste textiles are depolymerized to form a glucose solution, using sulfuric acid as the sole catalyst, with a high yield (>70%). The glucose solution produced in this process has a high concentration (>100 g/L), which reduces the purification cost and makes the process industrially relevant. This method can be applied regardless of the quality of the fibers and could therefore process other cellulosic fibers such as viscose. The glucose produced could subsequently be fermented into butanediol or caprolactam, precursors for the production of synthetic textile fibers, thus retaining the value of the waste textiles within the textile value chain. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
waste textiles, cotton, recycling, valorization, acid hydrolysis, sulfuric acid
in
Recycling
volume
7
issue
4
article number
57
pages
15 pages
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • scopus:85136738581
ISSN
2313-4321
DOI
10.3390/recycling7040057
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7ce895e0-8e47-4c1f-b3b7-0c26fabf1d6e
date added to LUP
2022-08-12 14:32:28
date last changed
2023-12-19 21:05:10
@article{7ce895e0-8e47-4c1f-b3b7-0c26fabf1d6e,
  abstract     = {{The fashion industry is becoming one of the largest emitters worldwide due to its high consumption of raw materials, its effluents, and the fact that every garment will eventually contribute to the vast amount of waste being incinerated or accumulating in landfills. Although fiber-to-fiber recycling processes are being developed, the mechanical properties of the textile fibers are typically degraded with each such recycle. Thus, tertiary recycling alternatives where textiles are depolymerized to convert them into valuable products are needed to provide end-of-life alternatives and to achieve circularity in the fashion industry. We have developed a method whereby cotton waste textiles are depolymerized to form a glucose solution, using sulfuric acid as the sole catalyst, with a high yield (>70%). The glucose solution produced in this process has a high concentration (>100 g/L), which reduces the purification cost and makes the process industrially relevant. This method can be applied regardless of the quality of the fibers and could therefore process other cellulosic fibers such as viscose. The glucose produced could subsequently be fermented into butanediol or caprolactam, precursors for the production of synthetic textile fibers, thus retaining the value of the waste textiles within the textile value chain.}},
  author       = {{Ruuth, Edvin and Sanchis-Sebastiá, Miguel and Larsson, Per Tomas and Teleman, Anita and Jiménez-Quero, Amparo and Delestig, Sara and Sahlberg, Viktor and Salén, Patricia and Sanchez Ortiz, Marjorie and Vadher, Simran and Wallberg, Ola}},
  issn         = {{2313-4321}},
  keywords     = {{waste textiles; cotton; recycling; valorization; acid hydrolysis; sulfuric acid}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Recycling}},
  title        = {{Reclaiming the Value of Cotton Waste Textiles: A New Improved Method to Recycle Cotton Waste Textiles via Acid Hydrolysis}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/recycling7040057}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/recycling7040057}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}