Evaluating Contaminant Effects and Blend Ratios on the Alkaline Hydrolysis of PET Textile Streams

Description

The increasing amounts of discarded textiles represent a potentially valuable resource that could be reclaimed. This work underscores the significance of advancing chemical recycling techniques for multi-component fabrics under mild reaction conditions. We present a method for nondestructive recovery of cotton (C), elastane, and nylon from polyester (polyethylene terephthalate (P)) textile blends through alkaline hydrolysis, supported with a phase-transfer catalyst. Consistent reaction conditions were maintained while evaluating various pre-consumer blends to assess their impact on the depolymerization of P component into terephthalic acid (TPA). The average TPA yield (by mass) exceeded 93.9 ± 2.79 % for pre-consumer materials and 89.5 ± 3.14 % for post-consumer materials. This work also explored the reuse potential of cotton recovered from the P:C textiles and examined any alterations in tensile strength post-hydrolysis. The average C recovery (by mass) exceeded 95.9 ± 0.784 %. Extensive material characterization for all components of the system was conducted. This research paves the way for a deeper understanding of the potential contamination by small molecules, and the quality of unreacted fibers within this mild alkaline chemical process.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
0 This zip file contains the .txt files to data for main figures in the manuscript https://data.nist.gov/od/ds/mds2-3727/Main%20Text%20Figures.zip
0 This .zip file contains the .txt files to data for supporting information figures for the manuscript. https://data.nist.gov/od/ds/mds2-3727/Supporting%20Information%20Figures.zip
0 ReadMe File associated with dataset https://data.nist.gov/od/ds/mds2-3727/README.txt

Tags

  • elastomeric-fibers
  • textiles
  • depolymerization
  • chemical-recycling
  • cotton
  • blended-textiles
  • polyethylene-terephthalate
  • garments
  • contaminants

Topics

Categories