Solvent blends for selective elastane dissolution and recovery from mixed polyamide fabrics

The textile industry faces significant challenges in recycling of fibres from clothes due to the complex blends of natural and synthetic polymers that are used in their production. One of the challenges is the inclusion of elastane, that is added in textile constructions to provide stretch and comfort. It is generally present in small proportions, but even in such low amounts it interferes in recycling of the other polymer types in clothing. Thus, the elastane needs to be removed from textile blends to improve fibre recycling rates. The typical solvents for elastane, dimethylformamide (DMF) and dimethylacetamide (DMAc), are toxic and not environment friendly, which makes it difficult to handle them in large quantities. This study focuses on the selective separation of elastane from clothing by dissolution/precipitation method. It will be shown that elastane can be separated at room temperature, by mixing two solvents at a specific ratio.