Reclaiming the Value of Cotton Waste Textiles: A New Improved Method to Recycle Cotton Waste Textiles via Acid Hydrolysis
Edvin Ruuth,
Miguel Sanchis-Sebastiá,
Per Tomas Larsson,
Anita Teleman,
Amparo Jiménez-Quero,
Sara Delestig,
Viktor Sahlberg,
Patricia Salén,
Marjorie Sanchez Ortiz,
Simran Vadher,
Ola Wallberg
Affiliations
Edvin Ruuth
Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
Miguel Sanchis-Sebastiá
ShareTex AB, Norra Villavägen 17, SE-237 34 Bjärred, Sweden
Per Tomas Larsson
RISE Bioeconomy, Drottning Kristinas väg 61, SE-114 86 Stockholm, Sweden
Anita Teleman
RISE Bioeconomy, Drottning Kristinas väg 61, SE-114 86 Stockholm, Sweden
Amparo Jiménez-Quero
Division of Glycoscience, Department of Chemistry, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Alba Nova University Centre, Roslagstullsbacken 21, SE-114 21 Stockholm, Sweden
Sara Delestig
Division of Glycoscience, Department of Chemistry, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Alba Nova University Centre, Roslagstullsbacken 21, SE-114 21 Stockholm, Sweden
Viktor Sahlberg
Division of Glycoscience, Department of Chemistry, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Alba Nova University Centre, Roslagstullsbacken 21, SE-114 21 Stockholm, Sweden
Patricia Salén
Division of Glycoscience, Department of Chemistry, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Alba Nova University Centre, Roslagstullsbacken 21, SE-114 21 Stockholm, Sweden
Marjorie Sanchez Ortiz
Division of Glycoscience, Department of Chemistry, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Alba Nova University Centre, Roslagstullsbacken 21, SE-114 21 Stockholm, Sweden
Simran Vadher
Division of Glycoscience, Department of Chemistry, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Alba Nova University Centre, Roslagstullsbacken 21, SE-114 21 Stockholm, Sweden
Ola Wallberg
Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
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.
