Study of a New Technique for Separation of PET and Cotton from Blended Textiles

This project to develop a new separation technique for polyester/cotton blends in order to recover the recyclable materials with good quality. Unlike the prior studies, which focused on using toxic organic dissolving solvents and/or high treatment temperatures for fibre separation, our approach will be based on promoting overall aqueous suspensibility of cotton cellulose in the blends. As a result, the process can be run in ordinary equipment at lower temperature using water medium, offering a way for cost saving and minimising negative impact on recycled materials’ properties. The research will go through detailed studies and optimisations on different promising systems with the goal of achieving greener conditions as well as possibly good yield and high purity of the polyester and cotton residues. It is expected that the success of this project can further promote textile and apparel recycling as it provides commercially viable separation and recycling techniques for fibre blends.