Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
The fashion industry is facing a big problem with textile waste. To solve this, researchers are using new chemical processes. They are looking for ways to make this better. A study in the journal Science Advances talks about this. A group of scientists found a way to break down complex fabrics. This new method can handle even mixed fabrics. This could help the fashion world become more sustainable.
The fashion industry creates millions of tons of waste every year. Most of the used clothes are burned or thrown into landfills. This harms the environment. It also worsens the issue of microplastic pollution. Microplastics are tiny plastic particles. They end up in our oceans and waterways, causing more problems.
Recycling Challenge of Textile Waste
Multi-fiber textiles are often made from materials like cotton and polyester combined together. This mix makes recycling hard. Conventional recycling methods can’t handle these mixed fabrics well. Mechanical recycling techniques often fail. They can’t separate the fabrics into their original materials. This results in a lower-quality product after recycling.
What is microwave-assisted Glycolysis?
The researchers have found a new way to solve these problems. Dionisios Vlachos leads this team from the University of Delaware. They have created a new chemical-processing technique. They used a method called microwave-assisted glycolysis to achieve this.
In microwave-assisted glycolysis, microwaves help break down synthetic fabrics, such as polyester. This process turns polyester into reusable molecules.
Advantages of microwave-assisted Glycolysis?
The main benefit of this method is that it can manage many different types of fabrics. It works with 100% polyester and 50/50 polycotton. Polycotton is a mix of polyester and cotton. The process changed 90% of the pure polyester fabric into BHET. BHET is a molecule that can be used again to make new polyester clothes.
The researchers discovered something important. The process did not harm the cotton in polycotton fabrics. This meant they could recover both polyester and cotton at the same time. This discovery is significant. It shows that chemical recycling can work well with complex fabric blends. These blends are very common in the fashion industry.
Another notable aspect of this study is the process’s time efficiency. Chemical recycling of textiles usually takes days to finish. But the researchers found a way to speed it up. They optimized the conditions to reduce the time to just 15 minutes. This quick process could save money. It can help make large-scale recycling more practical. This is important for promoting sustainable practices in the fashion industry.
Closing Remarks
Fixing and reusing old clothes are the best options. Recycling should be the last resort. The industry wants new processes and technologies for large-scale solutions. Miriam Ribul from the UKRI Textiles Circularity Centre said this. These new methods can stop millions of tons of textile waste from ending up in landfills and oceans. The chemical recycling approach in this study could greatly help make fashion more sustainable.
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