Groundbreaking recycling process could prevent millions of pounds of clothing waste — here's how
A new textile recycling process holds the promise of cleaning up the planet and boosting the circular economy.
It easily separates cotton from polyester, producing usable glucose from the former and leaving the latter undamaged, per a University of Amsterdam news release published by Phys.org.
The researchers, in partnership with sustainable chemicals company Avantium, used super-concentrated hydrochloric acid on polycotton waste. The acid breaks down the cotton into a glucose solution, and the polyester remains, "providing the ability to fully recycle both components in subsequent steps," the team wrote.
This sidesteps a major issue with textile recycling, as the fibers are difficult to disentangle, ScienceDirect noted in highlights about a different study. It also helps reduce the waste that is burying developing nations; Americans discard 21 billion pounds of clothes every year.
"Being able to recover glucose from the cotton in textile waste is a crucial contribution to this, as glucose is a key bio-based feedstock," said Gert-Jan Gruter, head of the industrial sustainable chemistry department at the Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences at the University of Amsterdam. "Currently, it is produced from starch from corn and wheat. If and when we will be producing plastics from biomass on a large scale, the world will need a lot of non-food glucose."
Phys.org published a photograph that showed the results of the process: Just polyester seams and their labels were left after cotton shirts had been bathed in the acid.
"It is the first effective method for recycling both cotton and polyester components of polycotton with high efficiency," according to the release.
The project falls under the mixed cotton-polyester waste textiles umbrella, which is years in the making at the University of Amsterdam. It also included textile sorting and recycling company Wieland Textiles, sustainable workwear company Groenendijk Bedrijfskleding, Dutch industry trade association Modint, and polyester recycling technology company CuRe Technology.
The release states that the glucose from the cotton can be used in polymers, resins, and solvents; high yields and those industrial applications show that the method is scalable and affordable.
Amazingly, Avantium can also use the glucose to create "a crucial component" of polyethylene furanoate, a biobased material that can be used instead of polyethylene terephthalate, which is used to manufacture plastic containers and polyester.
Gruter said Avantium has "invested substantially" in the process with the hope that it leads to the first industrial polycotton textile recycling facility and the first commercially available non-food glucose.
"Many parties are trying to get either of these things done but no one has succeeded yet," Gruter said. "Our ambition is to advance this technology to the next phase of commercialization, together with partners. So we might very well be the first to market non-food glucose obtained through a bio-refinery approach."
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
5 hours ago
- New York Post
Bill Gates shares ‘next phase of Alzheimer's fight' as he speaks about his father's personal battle
Bill Gates is speaking out about his personal experience with Alzheimer's — and his hope for progress in fighting the disease. In an essay published this week on his blog at the Microsoft co-founder and tech billionaire, 69, reflected on the difficulty of spending another Father's Day without his dad, Bill Gates Sr. Advertisement The elder Gates passed away in 2020 at the age of 94 after battling Alzheimer's. 'It was a brutal experience, watching my brilliant, loving father go downhill and disappear,' Gates wrote in the blog post. Today, motivated by his own experience with the common dementia, Gates — who serves as chair of the Gates Foundation — is committed to working toward a cure for the common dementia, which currently affects more than seven million Americans, or one in nine people over 65. In his blog, Gates expressed optimism about the 'massive progress' being made in the fight against Alzheimer's and other dementias. Advertisement Last year, Gates said he visited Indiana University's School of Medicine in Indianapolis to tour the labs where teams have been researching Alzheimer's biomarkers. 5 Bill Gates (left) is speaking out about his personal experience with Alzheimer's — and his hope for progress in fighting the disease. Brian Ach 'I also got the opportunity to look under the hood of new automated machines that will soon be running diagnostics around the world,' he wrote. 'It's an exciting time in a challenging space.' One of the biggest breakthroughs in Alzheimer's research, according to Gates, is blood-based diagnostic tests, which detect the ratio of amyloid plaques in the brain. (Amyloid plaques, clumps of protein that accumulate in the brain, are one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's.) Advertisement 'I'm optimistic that these tests will be a game-changer,' Gates wrote. 5 The elder Gates passed away in 2020 at the age of 94 after battling Alzheimer's. Bloomberg via Getty Images Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first blood-based test for patients 55 years and older, as Fox News Digital reported at the time. Traditionally, Gates noted, the primary path to Alzheimer's diagnosis was either a PET scan (medical imaging) or spinal tap (lumbar puncture), which were usually only performed when symptoms emerged. Advertisement The hope is that blood-based tests could do a better job of catching the disease early, decline begins. 5 Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first blood-based test for patients 55 years and older, as Fox News Digital reported at the time. – 'We now know that the disease begins 15 to 20 years before you start to see any signs,' Gates wrote. 'A simple, accurate and easy-to-run blood test might one day make routine screening possible, identifying patients long before they experience cognitive decline,' he stated. Gates said he is often asked, 'What is the point of getting diagnosed if I can't do anything about it?' Start and end your day informed with our newsletters Morning Report and Evening Update: Your source for today's top stories Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters To that end, he expressed his optimism for the future of Alzheimer's treatments, noting that two drugs — Lecanemab (Leqembi) and Donanemab (Kisunla) — have gained FDA approval. 'Both have proven to modestly slow down the progression of the disease, but what I'm really excited about is their potential when paired with an early diagnostic,' Gates noted. Advertisement He said he is also hopeful that the blood tests will help speed up the process of enrolling patients in clinical trials for new Alzheimer's drugs. 5 The hope is that blood-based tests could do a better job of catching the disease early, decline begins. Monkey Business – To accomplish this, Gates is calling for increased funding for research, which often comes from federal grants. 'This is the moment to spend more money on research, not less,' he wrote, also stating that 'the quest to stop Alzheimer's has never had more momentum.' Advertisement 'There is still a huge amount of work to be done — like deepening our understanding of the disease's pathology and developing even better diagnostics,' Gates went on. 5 Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, his wife Melinda, far left, his father Bill Gates Sr., and his step-mother Mimi Gates pose for a photo in 2007. AP Gates pointed out that when his father had Alzheimer's, it was considered a 'death sentence,' but that is starting to change. Advertisement 'I am blown away by how much we have learned about Alzheimer's over the last couple of years,' he wrote. 'I cannot help but be filled with a sense of hope when I think of all the progress being made on Alzheimer's, even with so many challenges happening around the world. We are closer than ever before to a world where no one has to watch someone they love suffer from this awful disease.'
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Scientists make concerning discovery after studying farmland soil: 'Highlights the urgent need for coordinated scientific and regulatory efforts'
Microplastics may be tiny in size, but a recent study shows they have a huge impact on our crops. Worrying new research has been highlighted by detailing the profound impact that microplastics have on soil and the crops that grow in contaminated areas. The study, originally published in the Environmental Sciences Europe journal, found that "agricultural soils now hold around 23 times more microplastics than oceans." The review stated that microplastics and nanoplastics have been discovered in lettuce, wheat, and carrot crops, with the lead researcher, Joseph Boctor, saying, "These microplastics are turning food-producing land into a plastic sink." Microplastics are flakes of plastic less than 5 millimeters in length. Plastics that can't biodegrade break down into smaller and smaller pieces, which are difficult to get rid of. They are incredibly pervasive, entering oceans, soil, animals, and human bodies. Animals and humans can consume the particles that end up in water, soil, and food sources, and microplastics may even be inhaled. Unfortunately, the presence of microplastics has been linked to serious health issues. A Washington Post article associated these tiny pollutants with a greater risk of heart disease, kidney disease, Alzheimer's, and fertility issues. "This review highlights the urgent need for coordinated scientific and regulatory efforts," Boctor said. "Regulators, scientists, and industry must collaborate to close the loopholes before plastic pollution further entrenches itself in the global food chain." In hopes of preventing the creation of microplastics in the future, Boctor and his colleagues at the Bioplastics Innovation Hub are in the process of creating plastic that decomposes in both soil and water. There are also a lot of things you can do in your everyday life that reduce microplastic pollution. The key thing to do is to move away from using plastic. More eco-friendly kitchen utensils and containers, made of materials such as wood, glass, or ceramic, can prevent the release of microplastics in the dishwasher. Do you worry about using cleaning products with harsh chemicals in them? All the time Sometimes Not really No — never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Another way microplastics are released is through the clothes we wear. Man-made fibers like nylon and polyester shed every time we wash our clothes, so try to choose natural fibers, such as cotton and linen, when you can. Installing a filter on your washing machine is another great way to prevent microplastics from polluting the water system. Though these tiny pollutants are proving to be a mammoth problem to tackle, there are many scientists working on ingenious solutions. For example, some researchers at the University of British Columbia have discovered they can filter up to 99.99% of microplastics from water using sawdust and plant-based tannins. At Princeton Engineering, researchers have found a way to clean microplastics out of the ocean by using egg whites, and it is only a matter of time until even more scientific solutions for microplastic pollution are created. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
The Hill
19 hours ago
- The Hill
ChatGPT use linked to cognitive decline: MIT research
ChatGPT can harm an individual's critical thinking over time, a new study suggests. Researchers at MIT's Media Lab asked subjects to write several SAT essays and separated subjects into three groups — using OpenAI's ChatGPT, using Google's search engine and using nothing, which they called the 'brain‑only' group. Each subject's brain was monitored through electroencephalography (EEG), which measured the writer's brain activity through multiple regions in the brain. They discovered that subjects who used ChatGPT over a few months had the lowest brain engagement and 'consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels,' according to the study. The study found that the ChatGPT group initially used the large language model, or LLM, to ask structural questions for their essay, but near the end of the study, they were more likely to copy and paste their essay. Those who used Google's search engine were found to have moderate brain engagement, but the 'brain-only' group showed the 'strongest, wide-ranging networks.' The findings suggest that using LLMs can harm a user's cognitive function over time, especially in younger users. It comes as educators continue to navigate teaching when AI is increasingly accessible for cheating. 'What really motivated me to put it out now before waiting for a full peer review is that I am afraid in 6-8 months, there will be some policymaker who decides, 'let's do GPT kindergarten.' I think that would be absolutely bad and detrimental,' the study's main author Nataliya Kosmyna told TIME. 'Developing brains are at the highest risk.' However, using AI in education doesn't appear to be slowing down. In April, President Trump signed an executive order that aims to incorporate AI into U.S. classrooms. 'The basic idea of this executive order is to ensure that we properly train the workforce of the future by ensuring that school children, young Americans, are adequately trained in AI tools, so that they can be competitive in the economy years from now into the future, as AI becomes a bigger and bigger deal,' Will Scharf, White House staff secretary, said at the time.
