Regenerated Cellulose Fibers Wetspun from Different Waste Cellulose Types

Abstract

Regenerated cellulosic fibers were successfully spun from various waste cellulose sources (cotton linter, bagasse, and cardboard) suitable for use as a textile fibers using a wet spinning process with an ionic liquid/dimethyl sulfoxide (IL/DMSO) mixture as the solvent. The solubility of the waste cellulose sources in IL/DMSO varies according to the source of the raw material. Regenerated fibers can be spun from all the waste feedstock, the spinnability and fiber tensile strength is governed by the DP and chemical composition of the cellulose. The structural properties of the spun fibers are determined by x-ray diffraction, thermalgravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscope. The results reveal that the properties of the starting materials and thus how the waste feed streams are pretreated have a significant impact on the mechanical properties, crystallite structure, thermal stability, and the morphology of the fibers.

Keywords

• cellulose
• ionic liquids
• wet spinning
• upcycling
• waste materials
• textile