Towards Sustainable Textiles: Microplastics, Coffee, and Closing the Loop
Abstract
It is increasingly becoming clear that the way textiles are currently produced and consumed can be unsustainable and negatively impact human and environmental health. In this study both textile production, sourcing, and use-phase related pollution were considered. In the first section of this dissertation, microplastic (MP) pollution is investigated using pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA)-coated substrates as adsorbents. In the following two sections, coffee fruit (cascara) waste is assessed as a raw material for human-made cellulosic-fibers using ionic liquid (IL) solvents. PSAs were identified as an effective adsorbent for MPs under aqueous conditions.To better explore PSA-MP interactions, simple glass-slide substrates were made to allow rapid optical quantification. Three formulations of poly(2-ethylhexyl acrylate) PSA were considered including 92k molecular weight (MW), 950k MW, and a 50:50 wt% bimodal distribution (BD) of the 92k and 950k. The BD yielded the most robust adhesive films after 30 min under aqueous shaking conditions while 92k and 950k films degraded after 1 and 5 min respectively. The BD samples captured 50% more nylon particles than the 950k, with maximum slide coverage achieving 25% after 30 min shaking. The broad effectiveness of PSA-based capture was demonstrated through an assessment of 10 aqueous conditions including solid, chemical, and temperature modifications. Although capture was suppressed under all non-deionized water conditions, capture…
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