Enzymatic Recovery of Glucose from Textile Waste

The enzymatic hydrolysis process is important in the field of textile waste reuse in the circular economy context. Currently, enzymatic cellulase treatment of waste textiles, such as bamboo mixture with spandex samples (BS), cotton jeans (CJ), linen (L), and cotton T-shirts (CT), has been tested, in which glucose production was measured at the presence of 6 and 8% NaOH solution. The characteristics of the textiles and hydrolysis capacity were evaluated by the amount of glucose (g) obtained from each textile. The following indicators were also measured during the experiment: temperature, pH, enzymatic cellulase solution composition, final glucose concentrations, turbidity, and color intensity. The temperature of the mixture was maintained at 50 °C, and a pH level of 5–7 along with a contact time of 48–94 min were controlled. The experiments demonstrated that when the enzymatic hydrolysis was active, turbidity increased from 86 nephelometric turbidity unit (NTU) to >1000 NTU; the color of the hydrolyzed samples was obtained from 86 NTU to >1000 NTU; and the final glucose concentration was approximately between 0.49 and 33.9 mmol/L for L, CT, and CJ samples measured to produce up to one gram of glucose from 3.330 g of textile, and a BS samples produced one gram of glucose from 3.164 g of textile. The findings show that recycled glucose obtained from textile waste materials is environmentally sustainable. Such textile waste can then be reused rather than being dumped in already overloaded landfills.