Shredding, Condensation and Compacting: Thermomechanical processing of post-consumer textile polyester
Sprache des Vortragstitels:
Englisch
Original Tagungtitel:
PPS 2024 Polymer Processing
Sprache des Tagungstitel:
Englisch
Original Kurzfassung:
While bottle-to-bottle recycling is an established technology, textile polyester is an underrepresented fraction within closed loop recycling [1]. Before thermomechanical recycling can be attempted, whole garments must be transformed into a processable feedstock shape by steps such as shredding and ejection of foreign materials (such as buttons or zippers). The resulting textile shreds show low density and pourability, which disrupts continuous dosing for extrusion processing [2]; additionally, these physical properties can lead to insufficient drying when using vacuum or dry-air convection ovens.
The aim of this work was to improve the quality of post-consumer textile waste to a level
suitable for fibre extrusion on a laboratory scale. A three-step process including solid state
polycondensation (SSP), pelletisation and drying was applied: 12 hours of vacuum SSP
of the shreds results in a homogenous increase of intrinsic viscosity from 0.6 to 0.8, with
concurrent dye desorption-degradation. Pelletisation of the resulting material at
temperatures above 50°C results in a compressed granule that were dried for processing
using conventional methods, resulting in moisture an order of magnitude lower than either
fabric or shreds. These pellets can be directly extruded into fibres, avoiding the material
degradation of an intermediate melt granulation step.
Sprache der Kurzfassung:
Englisch
Vortragstyp:
Hauptvortrag / Eingeladener Vortrag auf einer Tagung
Forschungs-