From manufacturing to disposal, the textile industry faces multiple challenges to achieve sustainability and reduce its environmental impact. This work investigates the properties and composition of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) extracted from clothing waste made of cotton fibers. We isolated CNCs from cotton, polyester/cotton, and acrylic/cotton waste fabrics through acid hydrolysis with sulfuric acid. A yield of 51−62 wt % (cotton basis) was obtained, and nearly all the polyester and acrylic fibers contained in the initial fabrics were recovered in a convenient shape that could allow easier recycling. CNCs extracted from the selected fabrics showed high purity, similar structural, physical, and chemical characteristics, and their properties were comparable to those extracted from virgin sources, although their surface chemistry and elemental composition slightly differed. The chemical components in the waste fabrics and the extracted CNCs were evaluated through a nontarget chromatographic-mass spectrometric screening strategy. Both the recycled textiles and the CNCs contained hundreds of compounds common in postconsumer textiles, including some with health and environmental concerns. However, our initial findings show that their concentrations in the CNCs are negligible. Our results provide insights into the challenges associated with the use of cotton waste textiles for the extraction of cellulose nanoparticles, and into the potential applications of the extracted nanomaterials.

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This article presents a comparative study of the surface characteristics and water purification performance of commercially available cellulose nonwoven fabrics modified, via cast coating, with different nano-dimensioned bio-based carbohydrate polymers, viz. cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibers (T-CNF), and chitin nanocrystals (ChNC). The surface-modified nonwoven fabrics showed an improvement in wettability, surface charge modification, and a slight decrease of maximum pore size. The modification improved the water permeance in most of the cases, enhanced the particle separation performance in a wide range of sizes, upgraded the mechanical properties in dry conditions, and showed abiotic antifouling capability against proteins. In addition, T-CNF and ChNC coatings proved to be harmful to the bacteria colonizing on the membranes. This simple surface impregnation approach based on green nanotechnology resulted in highly efficient and fully bio-based high-flux water filtration membranes based on commercially available nonwoven fabrics, with distinct performance for particle rejection, antifouling and antibacterial properties.

Background: Bio-based nanomaterials such as cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have been increasingly explored in nanotechnology owing to their chemo-physical properties, self-assembly, and low toxicity. Introduction: CNCs can be isolated from various cellulosic biomass sources. Textiles made of natural fibers, which are mostly made of cotton, are under-utilized biomass that after their lifetime is either burned or dumped into landfills. Method: In this study, cotton-based textiles are studied as a source of CNCs. CNCs were extracted from textiles without and with bleaching before the acid hydrolysis step, and further comparing them with the properties from industrial microcrystalline cellulose-derived CNCs. Nanocrystals were synthesized from the three different sources and their morphology, thermal properties, and colloidal stability were compared. Results: The findings show similar thermal properties and morphological characteristics for the three synthesized CNCs, and similar colloidal stability between the two textile-based CNC dispersions, suggesting that the dyes on CNCs do not impact the quality of the product. Removing the bleaching pretreatment –a water-demanding and toxically harmful step– before CNC extraction provides cost and environmental benefits without compromising on the CNC quality. Conclusion: This project seeks to streamline the CNC synthesis process with the long-term goal of eventually facilitating the textile recycling industry.

We propose a new method for the extraction of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) from post-consumer cotton textiles through surface functionalization followed by mechanical treatment. Cotton-based textiles were esterified using an 85...