Study on textile-to-textile mechanical recycling of post-consumer waste in cotton-polyester blends
The textile industry faces increasing pressure to adopt circular economy principles, and the mechanical recycling of post-consumer textiles presents as one of the potential pathways. This study addresses the challenge of recycling post consumer cotton-polyester blends, which constitute a significant...
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| Tipo de recurso: | tesis de maestría |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| Repositorio: | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/431776 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2117/431776 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Recycling (Waste, etc.) Textile fabrics -- Recycling Mechanical recycling Cotton/polyester blends Post consumer textile waste Reciclatge (Residus, etc.) Teixits i tèxtils -- Reciclatge Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria tèxtil |
| Sumario: | The textile industry faces increasing pressure to adopt circular economy principles, and the mechanical recycling of post-consumer textiles presents as one of the potential pathways. This study addresses the challenge of recycling post consumer cotton-polyester blends, which constitute a significant portion of textile waste. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the mechanical recycling processes of these blends, specifically focusing on how fibre composition (high cotton content) and fabric structure (woven vs. knitted) influence the physical properties of the resulting recycled fibres and yarns, particularly their tensile strength. The experimental phase involved mechanically recycling post-consumer textiles with 65/35, 70/30, and 80/20 cotton/polyester ratios in both knitted and woven structures. The entire recycling chain was examined, from garment selection to yarn production and testing, with a focus on fibre length distribution and yarn quality. The results indicated that the variability and condition of the input materials significantly influenced the overall process. Key conclusions emphasize the critical role of input material quality, the necessity of specialised mechanical processes to preserve fibre length, and the inherent limitations of mechanical recycling in achieving virgin-quality fibres. Further analysis suggested an inverse relationship between cotton content and tensile properties. Ultimately, this study highlights the complex interaction between material characteristics and processing parameters in mechanical textile recycling, underscoring the need for tailored approaches to advance textile circularity |
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