Trends on the Cellulose-Based Textiles: Raw Materials and Technologies

Abstract

There is an emerging environmental awareness and social concern regarding the environmental impact of the textile industry, highlighting the growing need for developing green and sustainable approaches throughout this industry’s supply chain. Upstream, due to population growth and the rise in consumption of textile fibers, new sustainable raw materials and processes must be found. Cellulose presents unique structural features, being the most important and available renewable resource for textiles. The physical and chemical modification reactions yielding fibers are of high commercial importance today. Recently developed technologies allow the production of filaments with the strongest tensile performance without dissolution or any other harmful and complex chemical processes. Fibers without solvents are thus on the verge of commercialization. In this review, the technologies for the production of cellulose-based textiles, their surface modification and the recent trends on sustainable cellulose sources, such as bacterial nanocellulose, are discussed. The life cycle assessment of several cellulose fiber production methods is also discussed.

Identification of cellulose textile fibers

“…5,6 Recycling of cellulose fibers therefore decreases our dependence on primary fiber production and contributes to bridging the cellulose gap generated by an increasing demand for regenerated textile fibers. 7 Here, we report the use of near infrared (NIR) imaging spectroscopy and chemometrics for classification of cotton, viscose and lyocell fibers. These three fibers are the main cellulose fibers for consumer applications and currently cover approximately 32% of annual textile fiber production.…”

Application of Bacterial Cellulose in the Textile and Shoe Industry: Development of Biocomposites

“…These fibers are traditionally produced from wood pulp or cotton linters, requiring a large plantation area. BC is a sustainable alternative to traditional cellulose sources which can be produced anywhere without the use of forest or land resources [28]. Despite some attempts to harvest cellulosic filament during the cultivation stage [29][30][31], dissolution seems to be the most promising method for the development of BC continuous filaments.…”

Preparation and Characterization of Cellulose Acetate Film Reinforced with Cellulose Nanofibril

“…Among all the cellulose-derived products, cellulose acetate (CA) is the one that has been widely produced for thermoplastics. Cellulose acetate was successfully applied for the preparation of membranes in different membrane technologies [2], for wastewater treatment containing heavy metals or metallic ions [3,4], film packaging [5], in the textile industry [6], medical engineering [7], and in gas separation [8]. CA is prepared through acetylation of cellulose with an excessive amount of acetic anhydride by a sulfuric acid catalyst.…”