Textiles Recycling

A special issue of Recycling (ISSN 2313-4321).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 September 2022) | Viewed by 9892

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Swedish Centre for Resource Recovery, University of Borås, S-501 90 Borås, Sweden
Interests: polymers; plastics; composites; textiles; biopolymers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Textiles, Engineering and Business, Department of Textile Technology, University of Borås, S-501 90 Borås, Sweden
Interests: mechanical recycling; fibre; nonwoven; yarn structures; textile structures; finite elements

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Consumer textile waste is a growing global problem. Most of the waste ends up in landfills, and these waste products enter our food chains and affect both humans and animals. We can only begin to imagine the environmental, social and economic effects of this full-scale experiment. The plastics used in common consumer products are largely the same plastics from which synthetic fibres are made.

Even today, more than two-thirds of all polyester is used to make textile fibres. For the next thirty years, the consumption of textile fibres is estimated to increase by about 150%, and almost all of this increase is expected to consist of polyester fibres. Next to the car, the home and the food, textiles give the biggest contribution to greenhouse gases. This development cannot continue. We have to find ways to turn textile waste into a resource. Therefore, there is a need for completely different recycling methods to handle the large material streams, and for innovative methods for the use of recycled fibres.

Composite materials are a potential user of recycled textile fibre, where it is possible to obtain a high-performance material without risking fibre contamination. Further research is needed on innovative production methods and the properties of the composite materials obtained.

We look forward to receiving your manuscripts!

Prof. Dr. Mikael Skrifvars
Prof. Dr. Nawar Kadi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Recycling is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • textile recycling
  • mechanical recycling
  • recycled fiber
  • bio-composite
  • thermoplastic
  • simulation
  • fibre-reinforced plastics

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 5425 KiB  
Article
Green Composites Based on PLA and Cotton Fabric Waste: Preparation and Characterization
by Narongchai O-Charoen, Piyaporn Kampeerapappun, Khanittha Charoenlarp, Nawadon Petchwattana and Ektinai Jansri
Recycling 2022, 7(5), 78; https://doi.org/10.3390/recycling7050078 - 19 Oct 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3378
Abstract
Textile waste, from both consumption and production, has dramatically increased due to a lack of diversification in its use. Increasing the number of textile alternatives can help to solve these problems. Producing a green composite product is an interesting alternative method. The objectives [...] Read more.
Textile waste, from both consumption and production, has dramatically increased due to a lack of diversification in its use. Increasing the number of textile alternatives can help to solve these problems. Producing a green composite product is an interesting alternative method. The objectives of this work were to study the preparation and characterization of green composites created from PLA and cotton fabric waste (CFW) and to consider the effect of the CFW content on the composites. The procedure of the research began with CFW pellets preparation; this was subsequently compounded with PLA pellets using a melt-mixing technique with a twin-screw extruder at ratios of 90:10, 80:20, and 70:30 wt% between the PLA and cotton fabric waste, respectively. Then, the testing specimens were produced by compression molding. The experiments demonstrated that an increase in the CFW caused an increase in the viscosity, stiffness, Tg, Tm, and water absorption of the composites. The decomposition temperature of the composites showed a range of 302.41 to 361.22 °C; this decreased when the CFW increased. An increase in the CFW also produced greater and clearer phase separation and roughness on the fracture surface area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Textiles Recycling)
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15 pages, 1058 KiB  
Article
Reclaiming the Value of Cotton Waste Textiles: A New Improved Method to Recycle Cotton Waste Textiles via Acid Hydrolysis
by Edvin Ruuth, Miguel Sanchis-Sebastiá, Per Tomas Larsson, Anita Teleman, Amparo Jiménez-Quero, Sara Delestig, Viktor Sahlberg, Patricia Salén, Marjorie Sanchez Ortiz, Simran Vadher and Ola Wallberg
Recycling 2022, 7(4), 57; https://doi.org/10.3390/recycling7040057 - 12 Aug 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5707
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 [...] Read 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. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Textiles Recycling)
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