Recycling of Blended Fabrics for a Circular Economy of Textiles: Separation of Cotton, Polyester, and Elastane Fibers

Khaliquzzaman Choudhury, Marina Tsianou and Paschalis Alexandridis ()
Additional contact information
Khaliquzzaman Choudhury: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, NY 14260-4200, USA
Marina Tsianou: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, NY 14260-4200, USA
Paschalis Alexandridis: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, NY 14260-4200, USA

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 14, 1-49

Abstract: The growing textile industry is polluting the environment and producing waste at an alarming rate. The wasteful consumption of fast fashion has made the problem worse. The waste management of textiles has been ineffective. Spurred by the urgency of reducing the environmental footprint of textiles, this review examines advances and challenges to separate important textile constituents such as cotton (which is mostly cellulose), polyester (polyethylene terephthalate), and elastane, also known as spandex (polyurethane), from blended textiles. Once separated, the individual fiber types can meet the demand for sustainable strategies in textile recycling. The concepts of mechanical, chemical, and biological recycling of textiles are introduced first. Blended or mixed textiles pose challenges for mechanical recycling which cannot separate fibers from the blend. However, the separation of fiber blends can be achieved by molecular recycling, i.e., selectively dissolving or depolymerizing specific polymers in the blend. Specifically, the separation of cotton and polyester through dissolution, acidic hydrolysis, acid-catalyzed hydrothermal treatment, and enzymatic hydrolysis is discussed here, followed by the separation of elastane from other fibers by selective degradation or dissolution of elastane. The information synthesized and analyzed in this review can assist stakeholders in the textile and waste management sectors in mapping out strategies for achieving sustainable practices and promoting the shift towards a circular economy.

Keywords: textile; cotton; cellulose; polyester; polyurethane; elastane; spandex; dissolution; molecular recycling; chemical recycling; advanced recycling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/6206/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/6206/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:14:p:6206-:d:1439204

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().