Making old new again: Scientists are working on ways to reuse fibers
When it comes to sorting out used clothing, the question is: throw it away or recycle it? Within the framework of the project called SCIRT, scientists at TU Wien are investigating how fibers can be reused.
In the future, more and more clothes could be made from recycled old clothes.
Is the circular economy also coming to the fashion industry? Researchers and fashion producers from five countries want to revolutionize this industry together. Dr. Andreas Bartl explains why this is important: "Currently, only a few EU countries have separate collection systems for end-of-life textiles. These collection systems are financed by the sale of reusable items and therefore focus only on second-hand clothes (SHC). By 2025 at the latest, an EU directive will provide for separate collection of end-of-life textiles, including those that are not suitable for reuse. However, recycling systems that work economically and ecologically have not yet been developed and implemented." - This is one of the goals of SCIRT (Systematic Circularity and Innovative Recycling of Textiles). In addition, the design of garments will be evaluated and the lifespan of textiles increased through appropriate material combinations.
Turning trousers into shirts
The use of recycled materials is already common in the fashion industry. However, the polyester (PET) fibers are obtained from beverage bottles and not from end-of-life clothing. "Fiber manufacturers consume around three quarters of the pellets from end-of-life PET bottles. So around 15% of PET fibers are based on recycled material. However, only around 1% of end-of-life garments are returned to the textile processing chain," says Bartl, a scientist from the research groups Particle Technology, Recycling Technology and Technology Assessment, who is involved in the SCIRT project together with Emanuel Boschmeier and Wolfgang Ipsmiller.
Just a few years ago, recycling was not an issue for the fashion industry. The reason was that sometimes it was more expensive to recycle the fibers than to produce them from scratch. Therefore, not only legal measures, which are currently being evaluated, but also the creation of a market for recycled fashion are needed. "To promote market uptake, we are developing important standards together with fashion manufacturers. Because this is the only way that a pair of trousers can one day become a shirt," Bartl offers the prospect.
Enzymes support recycling processes
Many garments consist of two or more fiber materials. This benefits the functionality of the fabric but complicates any recycling process at the end of the product's life cycle. Such fiber mixtures are not directly suitable for recycling but require complex separation processes.
Andreas Bartl, Emanuel Boschmeier and Wolfgang Ipsmiller are specifically investigating processes for recycling textile blends made of polyester and cotton, one of the most common material combinations on the market: "In order to be able to use the polyester fibers in other product cycles, the cotton fibers must be removed from the textile. We have succeeded in doing this by using cellulases. These enzymes break down the cellulose - the main component of cotton - into small molecules. In this way, the cotton becomes glucose, which can be reused in the chemical industry or as an integral raw material in the circular bioeconomy," explains Bartl. "The polyester fibers, on the other hand, are melted down and processed into pellets. If necessary, this pellet must be post-processed to obtain a quality suitable for fiber production." Cellulases are already used on a large scale in industry, and the regranulation of PET is based on existing processes. The main task for TU Wien is therefore to optimize the process so that it can be used on a large scale overall.
Transformation of the textile industry
"The coming months will be challenging for everyone in the textile processing chain," predicts Boschmeier, project assistant at SCIRT. This is because new legal and political framework conditions will be defined by 2025. Nevertheless, the industry is aware that the way textiles are handled will change significantly in the near future. In order to gain more knowledge and be prepared, the results of the SCIRT project are urgently needed. The project partners are addressing the root causes of the problem, not the symptoms: "Developing recycling processes is not our only goal. At the same time, more and more textiles are put on the market and, importantly, the cycle times are getting shorter and shorter," says Ipsmuller.
The SCIRT project is funded by Horizon 2020 for three years. It is coordinated by VITO, a Flemish research institute in the field of clean technology and sustainable development. A total of 18 partners from five countries participated in SCIRT.
Original URL: https://www.tuwien.at/en/tu-wien/news/news-articles/news/aus-alt-mach-neu
Disclaimer: This article is compiled by Lu Jinxin Clothing Accessories. The Chinese content is for reference only. All content is subject to the original English version.
