Chemical and ultrastructural changes in cotton cellulose induced by laundering and textile use

Cellulose, Sep 2014

The textile industry is currently under pressure to decrease environmental load related to both the manufacture and the use of textiles. Material recycling may be one of many ways to accomplish such a decrease. Age-induced property changes in cotton textiles are important to understand in order to facilitate the recycling of cotton textiles. Consequently, this study investigates ultrastructural and chemical changes that take place in the cellulose of cotton sheets over a long time period of use and laundering. Ultrastructural changes were studied using water retention value (WRV), specific surface area measurement, scanning electron microscopy and solid state NMR spectroscopy. Chemical changes through measurement of intrinsic viscosity with and without reductive treatment, molecular mass distribution and carboxylate group content. A substantial decrease in mass average molecular mass from 1,320 to 151 kDa was observed when subjecting the sheets to more than 50 launderings. In contrast, only small differences in WRV, in fibril dimensions and crystallinity estimated using solid state NMR spectra, were observed between sheets laundered 2–4 times and more than 50 times. On one hand, the combination of minor laundering effects of WRV and solid state NMR spectra, together with the large decrease in molecular mass are positive indications for the possibility of recycling cotton into regenerated cellulosic fibres. On the other hand, results show that the specific surface area decreased, which implies that the reactivity of cotton cellulose may decrease during long-term use and laundering.

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Chemical and ultrastructural changes in cotton cellulose induced by laundering and textile use

Anna Palme 0 1 2 Alexander Idstro m 0 1 2 Lars Nordstierna 0 1 2 Harald Brelid 0 1 2 0 H. Brelid Sodra Innovation, 432 86 Varobacka, Sweden 1 A. Idstrom L. Nordstierna Division of Applied Surface Chemistry, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology , 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden 2 A. Palme (&) Division of Forest Products and Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology , 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden The textile industry is currently under pressure to decrease environmental load related to both the manufacture and the use of textiles. Material recycling may be one of many ways to accomplish such a decrease. Age-induced property changes in cotton textiles are important to understand in order to facilitate the recycling of cotton textiles. Consequently, this study investigates ultrastructural and chemical changes that take place in the cellulose of cotton sheets over a long time period of use and laundering. Ultrastructural changes were studied using water retention value (WRV), specific surface area measurement, scanning electron microscopy and solid state NMR spectroscopy. Chemical changes through measurement of intrinsic viscosity with and without reductive treatment, molecular mass distribution and carboxylate group content. A substantial decrease in mass average molecular mass from 1,320 to 151 kDa was observed when subjecting the sheets to more than 50 launderings. In contrast, only small differences in WRV, in fibril dimensions and crystallinity estimated using solid state NMR spectra, were observed between sheets laundered 2-4 times and more than 50 times. On one hand, the combination of minor laundering effects of WRV and solid state NMR spectra, together with the large decrease in molecular mass are positive indications for the possibility of recycling cotton into regenerated cellulosic fibres. On the other hand, results show that the specific surface area decreased, which implies that the reactivity of cotton cellulose may decrease during long-term use and laundering. - Systems for collection and recycling of common consumer goods, such as paper, plastics and glass are well developed in many parts of the world today. One product category which is still underdeveloped in terms of recycling is clothing and textiles. The lifecycle of a garment may be expanded through reuse, but only if the garment still has good quality without damages or stains. Garments and textiles that are not suitable for reuse may be mechanically shredded and used for products such as carpet underlays and upholstery (Morley et al. 2006; Palm 2011). In order to gain both economic and environmental benefits, more efficient recycling of textiles is needed. Using old cotton textiles as a raw material to produce regenerated cellulosic fibres, such as viscose or lyocell, is an attractive alternative end-of life scenario in comparison to incineration or landfilling (Negulescu et al. 1998). To enable this development, more knowledge of changes induced by use and laundering in post-consumer cotton textiles is needed. The focus of this study is on ageing cotton textiles, and the motivation, apart from the applied perspective, is that understanding of this process will contribute to more basic understanding of how cellulosic materials age. The ageing of cellulose in paper has been extensively investigated in applications such as archiving of books (Wilson and Parks 1979) and the recycling of paper (Hubbe et al. 2007). Books or other archived paper, produced under acid conditions, may deteriorate rapidly through the acid hydrolysis of the cellulose (Kato and Cameron 1999). In paper recycling, the repeated drying and rewetting cycles lead to a decrease in the swelling ability of chemical pulp fibres. This change in swelling behaviour has been defined as hornification by Jayme (1944; Weise 1998). Today, the term hornification is used in a broader sense to describe changes in chemical pulp fibres attributed to drying, such as stiffer and less conformable fibres (Hubbe et al. 2007). These changes are associated with the non-reversible closing of nanosized pores in the fibres during drying, due to coalescence of cellulose fibril aggregates (Ponni et al. 2012). The coalescence is often explained by the formation of hydrogen bonds between the cellulose fibril aggregates in the fibre walls, but crosslinking reactions that lead to the formation of covalent bonds have also been suggested (Hubbe et al. 2007; Laivins and Scallan 1993). In addition, solid state NMR studies have shown that co-crystallization between cellulose fibrils is another possible reason for the formation of bonds between fibril aggregates (Idstro m et al. 2013; Newman 1999). Furthermore, the closing of small pores and the increase in fibril aggregate size will lead to a decrease in accessible surface area. A textile is subjected to numerous laundering cycles during its life tim (...truncated)


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Anna Palme, Alexander Idström, Lars Nordstierna, Harald Brelid. Chemical and ultrastructural changes in cotton cellulose induced by laundering and textile use, Cellulose, 2014, pp. 4681-4691, Volume 21, Issue 6, DOI: 10.1007/s10570-014-0434-9