TEXTILES - PRODUCT ANALYSIS

Textiles - Product Analysis

Textiles - Product Analysis

Introduction

The word green is an adjective used to describe something that is perceived to be beneficial to the environment. So, green textile materials should be fibers, fabrics, clothing, and related products that would be friendly or beneficial to the environment. At the same time, green materials should be also sustainable products, which are defined as having no negative impact on natural ecosystems or resources. Most green materials should be recyclable, renewable, and reusable. Recycled products are made in whole or part from materials recovered from the waste stream.

Discussion

Renewable products are those that can be replaced by natural ecological cycles or sound management practices, while reusable products can be repeatedly used after salvaging, or special treatment or processing. Textile manufacturing processes may involve the use of raw materials from either nonrenewable or renewable resources such as oil, coal, agricultural products, energy, and water (Liebert, 2010). The production of textiles should also follow the principles of green chemistry, including 12 principles generally recognized by scientists.

Green Fibers and Chemicals

Textile fibers include natural fibers such as silk, wool, cotton, and flax, and manufactured fibers like rayon, polyester, polyamide (nylon), acrylics, and polypropylene. Rayon is regenerated cellulosic fiber and can be produced from woods and many renewable cellulose resources. All natural fibers and regenerate cellulose fibers are renewable materials. However, the production of silk, wool, cotton, and flax are restricted by the limited farmable lands and scales of agriculture production and cannot be increased without limit to meet the future increase of the world population. Since rayon and regenerated cellulose fibers can be made from almost any cellulose resources and crops produce million of tons of biomass (which is a major renewable cellulose resource), regenerated cellulose fibers are a focus of development of sustainable textiles fibers. Traditional rayon (xanthate) production process causes significant pollution in the form of emission of carbon disulfide and large quantities of wastewater, as well as sodium sulfate as a by-product. Most of the current research focuses on development of novel and environmentally friendly solvents or solvent systems for regeneration of cellulose. Lyocell fiber is a great example of regenerated cellulose fibers produced by using an environmentally friendly process and a new solvent, and ionic liquids have attracted a lot of attention recently (Libkind, 2006).

Polyester, nylon, acrylics, and polypropylene fibers are the most widely used fibers in apparels and clothing materials, which are all petroleum-based synthetic materials and are traditionally considered as nonrenewable if the world supply of petroleum oil runs out. However, novel biobased synthetic polymers such as polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), and partially biobased polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT) can be totally or at least partially made from agricultural crops, making some synthetic materials sustainable. PLA and PHAs are biodegradable polymers, and disposal of these polymers would have reduced impact on the environment. In recent years, polyester fibers made from recycled polyester bottles have been widely adopted in textile applications, resulting in products with greener ...