Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-88). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2009. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

The clothes and textiles sold in Sweden is mostly manufactured in countries outside of the EU. The production requires large areas of land and vast amount of water. The environmental impact is big during the production phase in terms of water usage, chemicals and transports. In general, the consumption of new textile is increasing in Sweden, but so is also reused textil. In 2016 the consumption of textile in Sweden was nearly 14 kg per person and year, which equals the weight of 14 t-shirts, 5 pairs of jeans, 7 hoodies and 2 coats. At the same time 5 kg textile per person and year is thrown in the the household waste and nearly 60 % of the thrown textile is in good condition and could be used again. The amount of clothes given to charity organisations is almost 4 kg per person and year but 70 % of the collected textile is exported. The collection and recycling of non-reusable textiles in Sweden today is low. Current recycling techniques are mainly energy recovery through incineration. The reasons for this has to do with limitations in the sorting and collection of consumer textile waste or limitation of optional recycling processes. In fact, there is no large scale industrial process to recycle textile into new textile, which leads to an open loop system where input of new materials is required. But there are upcoming technologies that meets the challenges today. This project explores the dynamics of current ways of treating textile waste. Through learnings from existing system, in combination with new technologies, alternative ways of structuring processes of production, consumption, usages and disposal is proposed with the aim of establishing a new relationship to contemporary urban production.

The work of the present thesis focused on conversion of the cellulosic part of waste textiles into biogas and ethanol, and its challenges. In 2009, the global annual fiber consumption exceeded 70 Mt, of which around 40% consisted of cellulosic material. This huge amount of fibers is processed into apparel, home textiles, and industrial products, ending up as waste after a certain time delay. Regretfully, current management of waste textiles mainly comprises incineration and landfilling, in spite of the potential of cellulosic material being used in the production of ethanol or methane. The volume of cellulose mentioned above would be sufficient for producing around 20 billion liters of ethanol or 11.6 billion Nm3 of methane per year. Nevertheless, waste textiles are not yet accepted as a suitable substrate for biofuel production, since their processing to biofuel presents certain challenges, e.g. high crystallinity of cotton cellulose, presence of dyes, reagents and other materials, and being textiles as a mixture of natural and synthetic fibers. High crystallinity of cotton cellulose curbs high efficient conversion by enzymatic or bacterial hydrolysis, and the presence of non-cellulosic fibers may create several processing problems. The work of the present thesis centered on these challenges. Cotton linter and blue jeans waste textiles, all practically pure cellulose, were converted to ethanol by SSSF, using S. cerevisiae, with a yield of about 0.14 g ethanol/g textile, only 25% of the theoretical yield. To improve the yield, a pretreatment process was required and thus, several methods were examined. Alkaline pretreatments significantly improved the yield of hydrolysis and subsequent ethanol production, the most effective condition being treatment with a 12% NaOH-solution at 0 °C, increasing the yield to 0.48 g ethanol/g textile (85% of the theoretical yield). Waste textile streams, however, are mixtures of different fibers, and a separation of the cellulosic fibers from synthetic fibers is thus necessary. The separation was not achieved using an alkaline pretreatment, and hence another approach was investigated, viz. pretreatment with N-methyl-morpholine-N-oxide (NMMO), an industrially available and environment friendly cellulose solvent. The dissolution process was performed under different conditions in terms of solvent concentration, temperature, and duration. Pretreatment with 85% NMMO at 120 °C under atmospheric pressure for 2.5 hours, improved the ethanol yield by 150%, compared to the yield of untreated cellulose. This pretreatment proved to be of major advantage, as it provided a method for dissolving and then recovering the cellulose. Using this method as a foundation, a novel process was developed, refined and verified, by testing polyester/cellulose-blended textiles, which predominate waste textiles. The polyesters were purified as fibers after the NMMO treatments, and up to 95% of the cellulose content was regenerated. The solvent was then recovered, recycled, and reused. Furthermore, investigating the effect of this treatment on anaerobic digestion of cellulose disclosed a remarkable enhancement of the microbial solubilization; the rate in pretreated textiles was twice the rate in untreated material. The overall yield of methane was, however, not significantly affected. The process developed in the present thesis appears promising for transformation of waste textiles into a suitable raw material, to subsequently be used for biological conversion to ethanol and biogas. / <p>Thesis to be defended in public on Friday, May 27, 2011 at 13.00 at KC-salen, Kemigården 4, Göteborg, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.</p>

No description available.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Biochemistry, Microbiology & Biotechnology)) - Rhodes University, 2007.

The purpose of this master thesis is to address two main ways of dealing with used textile material in Czech Republic. It compares textile material as a component of a household waste with textile material as a component of a segregated waste. The main question that the thesis and the research done within it addresses is whether the costs, associated with textile waste management coming as the result of administrative tools and legislative action plans mounted to it, are not too high. Based on a calculated model of cost structure of both above mentioned variants their comparison could be performed. Analysis of its results pointed out, that under certain given conditions and assumptions the system of segregated waste collection is, despite its higher costs, effective. The outcome of this master thesis is proposed possible scenarios used to optimize textile waste management in the context of economic science methodology, available data and primary research questions.

Proper consumer attitude towards textile products and optimal post-consumer waste management of textile waste is connected with many benefits. Despite this fact, little research has been conducted on these topics. Textile waste represented mainly by donated textile from households and its material flow in waste streams mirrors the behaviour of our consumer society as well as new technologies in textile and fashion industry. More information about consumer attitude and behaviour toward textile and textile waste is needed to provide suitable waste management processes according to the hierarchy of waste management, such as re-use and energy recovery, and to ensure sustainable development and minimal impact on the worlds wellbeing. This study takes into account not only waste management of textile waste, but also tries to understand all textile issues in a wider perspective. Particularly fashion industry is connected with many negative ethical aspects (e.g. sweatshops), and many environmental issues are connected with overproduction of lower-quality textile products. Proper handling of post-consumer textile products is only one of the product life cycle stages to be solved. The main goal of this study is to discuss the results of a consumer attitude and behaviour questionnaire toward textile and textile waste from households in the Czech Republic. The study also includes partial hypotheses and an analysis of interest groups as other possible sources of information to form proper textile waste management policy tools and strategies.