Textile waste analysis
The goal of this work package is to establish a procedure to accurately determine the composition of textile waste samples.
TexirC
Textile waste analysis, fractionation, color stripping, and chemical recycling
The TexirC project will support Finnish companies in their efforts to create a more sustainable textile industry.
In the European Union an average of 11 kg of textiles per person ends up as waste each year. Only a small fraction of our textiles is truly recycled, due to the lack of effective processes to deal with the composite and multi-material nature of clothes and footwear.
The TexirC project aims to change this, by providing a new pipeline to recycle both synthetic and natural fibres into new products. The project addresses four key challenges in textile recycling: colour stripping, fibre separation, compositional analysis, and de/repolymerization of the synthetics. TexirC also focuses on building expertise to support early adoption of its results, helping Finnish companies to transition towards a more sustainable textile economy.
You can find more information on our research below.
Work packages
Textile waste colour stripping
The presence of colours in textile waste makes recycling challenging. This work package aims at developing a universal and efficient colour stripping process.
Textile waste fractionation
The goal of this work package is to establish strategies for textile waste separation into chemically different fractions, mainly cellulose fibres and polyester fraction.
Textile waste chemical recycling
The goal of this work package is to develop depolymerisation and re-polymerisation processes for chemical recycling of synthetic fibres.
News
Brighter together: designing sustainable technologies to create electronic devices
An article about an Aalto research project focusing on light-emitting electrochemical cells has been published in Chemical Science.
Aalto University and Pääkaupunkiseudun Kierrätyskeskus Oy explored new ways to recycle discarded books
What should we do with discarded books which paper quality and ink composition vary greatly? The study showed that processing discarded books into textiles is possible, but it turned out to be costly with its own environmental impact.In collaboration with:
