Nanocellulose Extracted from Waste Polyester/Cotton Fabric by Chemical-Mechanical Separation Technology

Abstract The millions of tons of textile waste were produced every year. Most of them were made from polyester/cotton blended fabrics. The key technologies for recycling the waste blended fabrics were how to separate the blended components and then use the materials form the waste. Based on this, this research aimed to develop the technology of sustainable recycling of cotton fiber and polyester. The waste polyester/cotton blended fabric was first to cut into small pieces, then treated it with acid, and then used a grinder to crush it to separate the polyester from the cotton fiber. After the separation process, the cotton fiber was powder and the polyester fiber was fibrous mass. The components of the separated cotton samples were studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The crystallinity of separated cotton fiber was analyzed by X-ray diffraction. The morphology of the separated cotton fiber and polyester were analyzed by scanning electron microscope. The particle size and potential of the cotton fiber after final treatment were analyzed by using the nanoparticle size and zeta potential analyzer. The results showed that the waste polyester/cotton blended fabric was successfully separated and the separated cotton fiber was successfully prepared into cotton nanocellulose for future use.