Man-made fibers constitute 60 percent of the world fiber consumption. Consequently, the textile industry has a significant interest in a constant further development of these fibers. In this field, an environmentally friendly production is one of the dominant challenges- and opportunity at the same time. The textile industry is looking for more sustainable technologies in fiber and fabric manufacture. One of the most important issues that need to be investigated is the resource efficiency that deals with waste, water and energy management. Reducing the use of toxic chemicals in fiber manufacturing processes is also of significant importance.<br/>A so called closed loop of fibers is one of the interesting challenges in this field. This closed loop is formed once a worn-out garment is recycled through conversion to its original fiber form to create new products. According to the Council for Textile Recycling, the U.S. EPA estimates that textile waste occupies nearly 5% of all landfill space. While the EPA estimates that approximately 3.8 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste (PCTW) is recycled each year, this only accounts for about 15% of all PCTW, leaving 85% as landfills. These statistics show the necessity for a thorough recycling of textiles. Along with increasing environmental awareness, the need to develop “green” fiber production technologies is getting increasingly important.<br/>Recently, studies on the application of ionic liquids (ILs) in the field of cellulose chemistry have attracted much attention, including the production of regenerated cellulose fibers which has gained considerable commercial interest. We have studied a dry-jet wet spinning process utilizing a super-base derived IL by considering cotton based waste textiles for the production of fibers. The spinning parameters have been optimized by extensive rheological studies. Mechanical properties, i.e. tenacity, moduli of elasticity, elongation and filament orientation are determined. Thus, an understanding of this novel process is developed and the advantages are demonstrated for producing high-value products such as textiles and also biocomposites.

Regenerated cellulosic fiber from ionic liquid-waste cotton solution by dry-jet wet spinning

249th National Meeting (2015)

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