The DOI matches its Crossref record; 26 of the 28 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Development of an efficient route for combined recycling of PET and cotton from mixed fabrics
Open accessAbstract
Most textile waste is either incinerated or landfilled today, yet, the material could instead be recycled through chemical recycling to new high-quality textiles. A first important step is separation since chemical recycling of textiles requires pure streams. The focus of this paper is on the separation of cotton and PET (poly(ethylene terephthalate), polyester) from mixed textiles, so called polycotton. Polycotton is one of the most common materials in service textiles used in sheets and towels at hospitals and hotels. A straightforward process using 5–15 wt% NaOH in water and temperature in the range between 70 and 90 °C for the hydrolysis of PET was evaluated on the lab-scale. In the process, the PET was degraded to terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol (EG). Three product streams were generated from the process. First is the cotton; second, the TPA; and, third, the filtrate containing EG and the process chemicals. The end products and the extent of PET degradation were characterized using light microscopy, UV-spectroscopy, and ATR FT-IR spectroscopy, as well as solution and solid-state NMR spectroscopy. Furthermore, the cotton cellulose degradation was evaluated by analyzing the intrinsic viscosity of the cotton cellulose. The findings show that with the addition of a phase transfer catalyst (benzyltributylammonium chloride (BTBAC)), PET hydrolysis in 10% NaOH solution at 90 °C can be completed within 40 min. Analysis of the degraded PET with NMR spectroscopy showed that no contaminants remained in the recovered TPA, and that the filtrate mainly contained EG and BTBAC (when added). The yield of the cotton cellulose was high, up to 97%, depending on how long the samples were treated. The findings also showed that the separation can be performed without the phase transfer catalyst; however, this requires longer treatment times, which results in more cellulose degradation.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Polymer, oligomer and monomer recycling is, however, hindered by a lack of technologies for sorting and separation into pure enough fractions ( € Ostlund et al., 2015), although there have recently been significant breakthroughs in the separation of cotton/polyester blends (Palme et al., 2017).”
From Environmental impact of textile reuse and recycling – A review (2018) · cites this paper as Palme et al., 2017
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Wood Chemistry: Fundamentals and Applications
Sjöström, E. (1981) · Cited by 1,902
Wood chemistry, fundamentals and applications
MARCHESSAULT, R. H. (1994) · Carbohydrate Research · doi:10.1016/0008-6215(94)90030-2 · Cited by 1,571
Pet Waste Management by Chemical Recycling: A Review
Sinha, V., Patel, M. R., & Patel, J. V. (2008) · Journal of Polymers and the Environment · doi:10.1007/s10924-008-0106-7 · Cited by 900 · cited 2×
“Recycling of PET through depolymerization has been extensively studied and reviewed due to the large volumes of PET bottles, which are creating a fast-growing waste problem (Al-Sabagh et al. 2016; Chen et al. 2011; Dutt and Soni 2013; George and Kurian 2014; Geyer et al. 2016; Paliwal and Mungray 2013; Sinha et al. 20…”
BackgroundIndian Journal of Chemical Technology
(2022) · Indian Journal of Chemical Technology · doi:10.56042/ijct · Cited by 702
Structural FTIR analysis and thermal characterisation of lyocell and viscose-type fibres
Carrillo, F., Colom, X., Suñol, J. J., et al. (2004) · European Polymer Journal · doi:10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2004.05.003 · Cited by 657 · cited 2×
“This was concluded because the two shoulders around 3447 and 3488 cm−1, which are specific for intramolecular OH-stretching in cellulose II (Carrillo et al. 2004) are present in the sample treated in 15% NaOH, but not in the other two samples.”
BackgroundGreener routes for recycling of polyethylene terephthalate
Al-Sabagh, A. M., Yehia, F. Z., Eshaq, G., Rabie, A. M., & ElMetwally, A. E. (2015) · Egyptian Journal of Petroleum · doi:10.1016/j.ejpe.2015.03.001 · Cited by 571 · cited 2×
“Recycling of PET through depolymerization has been extensively studied and reviewed due to the large volumes of PET bottles, which are creating a fast-growing waste problem (Al-Sabagh et al. 2016; Chen et al. 2011; Dutt and Soni 2013; George and Kurian 2014; Geyer et al. 2016; Paliwal and Mungray 2013; Sinha et al. 20…”
BackgroundRecent Developments in the Chemical Recycling of Postconsumer Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Waste
George, N., & Kurian, T. (2014) · Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research · doi:10.1021/ie501995m · Cited by 435 · cited 2×
“Recycling of PET through depolymerization has been extensively studied and reviewed due to the large volumes of PET bottles, which are creating a fast-growing waste problem (Al-Sabagh et al. 2016; Chen et al. 2011; Dutt and Soni 2013; George and Kurian 2014; Geyer et al. 2016; Paliwal and Mungray 2013; Sinha et al. 20…”
BackgroundRecycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) – A review focusing on chemical methods
Geyer, B., Lorenz, G., & Kandelbauer, A. (2016) · eXPRESS Polymer Letters · doi:10.3144/expresspolymlett.2016.53 · Cited by 270 · cited 2×
“Recycling of PET through depolymerization has been extensively studied and reviewed due to the large volumes of PET bottles, which are creating a fast-growing waste problem (Al-Sabagh et al. 2016; Chen et al. 2011; Dutt and Soni 2013; George and Kurian 2014; Geyer et al. 2016; Paliwal and Mungray 2013; Sinha et al. 20…”
BackgroundA novel process for ethanol or biogas production from cellulose in blended-fibers waste textiles
Jeihanipour, A., Karimi, K., Niklasson, C., & Taherzadeh, M. J. (2010) · Waste Management · doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2010.06.026 · Cited by 183 · cited 1×
“Dissolving cotton has also been proposed using different solvents, such as ionic liquids or N-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO), and separating the two components with filtration (De Silva et al. 2014; Jeihanipour et al. 2010).”
BackgroundPhase transfer catalysis: Chemistry and engineering
Naik, S. D., & Doraiswamy, L. K. (1998) · AIChE Journal · doi:10.1002/aic.690440312 · Cited by 176 · cited 2×
“The effect of the phase transfer catalyst is, thus, to carry the hydroxide ions to the surface of the PET to facilitate the reaction (Naik and Doraiswamy 1998).”
Background
Research works printed but not linked: 8
- Asaadi, S., Hummel, M., & Sixta, H. (2015). Regenerated cellulosic fiber from ionic liquid-waste cotton solution by dry-jet wet spinning (Abstracts of Papers, 249th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Denver, CO, United States).
- Bernd, H., & Gerahard, S. (1996). US 5521305 (A) HOECHST AG.
- CIRFS European man-made fibres association. (2016). World man-made fibres production. Retrieved from http://www.cirfs.org/KeyStatistics/WorldManMadeFibresProduction.aspx . Accessed 20 Oct 2016.
- Elander, M., & Ljungkvist, H. (2016). Critical aspects in design for fiber-to-fiber recycling of textiles. Retrieved from http://mistrafuturefashion.com/2016-1-critical-aspects/ . Accessed 20 Oct 2016.
- Hatch, K. L. (1993). Textile science. Minneapolis/Saint Paul: West Publishing Company.
- International Fabricare Institute. (1995). Alkaline hydrolysis of polyester (IFI Bulletin, p. 30).
- Negulescu, I. I., Kwon, H., Collier, B. J., Collier, J. R., & Pendse, A. (1998). Recycling cotton from cotton/polyester fabrics. Textile Chemist and Colorist, 30(6), 31–35.
- Oakley, E. O., Gorman, F. J., & Mason, J. D. (1993). US 5236959. Hoechst Celanese Corp.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 101–153 of 153
Roles of carbon dioxide in the conversion of biomass or waste plastics
Yang, B., Dong, Z., Tan, Z., Cai, Y., & Xie, S. (2024) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176882 · Cited by 8
Liu, S., Fu, C., Shen, B., Zhang, J., Xu, M., You, S., Qi, W. D., & Wang, M. (2025) · Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research · doi:10.1021/acs.iecr.4c04596 · Cited by 12
Alikin, M. B., Alekseeva, K. D., Александрович, П. Д., et al. (2022) · Mechanics of Composite Materials · doi:10.1007/s11029-022-10060-z · Cited by 8
Hoffmann, J., & Glückler, J. (2024) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.143083 · Cited by 7
Nason, A. K., Phamonpon, W., Pitt, T. A., et al. (2024) · Chemistry of Materials · doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.4c02286 · Cited by 7
Hussain, M., Ashraf, M., Ullah, H. M. K., et al. (2023) · Textile science and clothing technology · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-49479-6_7 · Cited by 7
Apostolopoulou‐Kalkavoura, V., Fijoł, N., Lombardo, S., et al. (2024) · Advanced Sustainable Systems · doi:10.1002/adsu.202400132 · Cited by 7
From Plastic Waste to Green Hydrogen and Valuable Chemicals Using Sunlight and Water
Nguyen, T. K. A., Trần‐Phú, T., Daiyan, R., Ta, X. M. C., Amal, R., & Tricoli, A. (2024) · Angewandte Chemie · doi:10.1002/ange.202401746 · Cited by 7
An Eco-friendly Approach for the Separation and Reusage of Pre-consumer Polycotton Textile Waste
de Lima, F. P., Alves, C., Gomes-Dias, R., Fernandes, M., Vieira, B., Rodrigues, R., Padrão, J., & Zille, A. (2025) · Journal of Polymers and the Environment · doi:10.1007/s10924-025-03500-z · Cited by 8
“To selectively dissolve CO, the use of strong acidic conditions is the standard procedure [24], which was expanded to the use of ionic liquids or N -methylmorpholine N -oxide (NMMO) during the Lyocell ® synthesis [25–27].”
InfluentialTowards circular fashion – transforming pulp mills into hubs for textile recycling
Sanchis-Sebastiá, M., Novy, V., Stigsson, L., et al. (2021) · RSC Advances · doi:10.1039/d1ra00168j · Cited by 7
Transforming Polycotton Textile Waste into New Bicomponent Fibers: An Investigative Study
Kronberg, S., & Baghaei, B. (2024) · Advances in Polymer Technology · doi:10.1155/2024/5239028 · Cited by 6
Coupling of chemical deconstruction and pyrolysis to upcycle metallized multilayer plastic films
Kulas, D. G., Aloba, S., Noecker, A., Putman, L. I., Meinholz, C., Garland, K., Henry, J., Flores, H., Chipkar, S., Zolghadr, A., et al. (2025) · Waste Management · doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2025.115003 · Cited by 6
Gupta, N., Nguyen, T. H., H’ng, Y. Y., et al. (2025) · Resources Conservation and Recycling · doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2025.108512 · Cited by 6
Toward Making Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Degradable in Aqueous Environment
Li, Y., Chen, J., Han, W., et al. (2021) · Macromolecular Materials and Engineering · doi:10.1002/mame.202100832 · Cited by 6
Giraldo‐Narcizo, S., Guerrero, A., & Sánchez‐Pérez, A. M. (2025) · ChemBioChem · doi:10.1002/cbic.202500004 · Cited by 5
Kählig, P., Ipsmiller, W., Bartl, A., et al. (2025) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su17125484 · Cited by 5
Wentz, C. M., Mevorah, M. D., Carranza, A., et al. (2025) · ACS Sustainable Resource Management · doi:10.1021/acssusresmgt.5c00302 · Cited by 5
Wang, Y., Pan, L., Wu, X., et al. (2024) · Cellulose · doi:10.1007/s10570-024-06122-1 · Cited by 5
“This method often usually requires the dissolution of polyester component (Barot and Sinha 2015; Palmé et al. 2017;)”
Open-loop recycling of end-of-life textiles as geopolymer fibre reinforcement
Ambrus, M., & Mucsi, G. (2024) · Waste Management & Research The Journal for a Sustainable Circular Economy · doi:10.1177/0734242x241242708 · Cited by 5
“…the notion of using chemical processes to treat textiles to degrade to be used again in the production of textiles or other materials, including, for example, monomer (Guo et al., 2021) and polymer recycling (Niinimäki et al., 2017), or the separation of fibres via hydrolysis (Palme et al., 2017).”
BackgroundNason, A. K., Hu, J., Bruno, B. A., & Suntivich, J. (2025) · Macromolecules · doi:10.1021/acs.macromol.4c02602 · Cited by 3
Recycling of inherently flame-resistant fabrics for protective clothing: A comprehensive review
Islam, G. M. N., Kasper, D., Parker, T., et al. (2025) · Cleaner Waste Systems · doi:10.1016/j.clwas.2025.100331 · Cited by 3
Industrialization of Post-Consumer Textile Waste Recycling (PCTW)- Hope vs Hype
Jaczynska, K., & Mehta, S. (2025) · Circular Economy and Sustainability · doi:10.1007/s43615-025-00657-6 · Cited by 3
“In the case of polycotton, the disas - sembly of constituent fibers can be achieved through depolymerization or by selectively ) [52].”
Pavlopoulou, K. E., Ianniello, V., Hrůzová, K., Tervoort, T. A., Lange, H., Rova, U., Christakopoulos, P., & Μάτσακας, Λ. (2026) · Organic Process Research & Development · doi:10.1021/acs.oprd.5c00386 · Cited by 4
Wilhelmus, B., Stapf, D., Schmidt-Rodenkirchen, A., Aschauer, S., Gerdes, T., Nießner, N., Griffiths, A., Sánchez, A., Loo, S., Eichert, C., et al. (2022) · Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG eBooks · doi:10.3139/9781569908570.009 · Cited by 3
LCA Studies on Regenerative Agriculture and Regenerative Textiles: Two Routes of Regenerative Cotton
Sharma, R. K., Jagadeesh, N., & Muthu, S. S. (2023) · Textile science and clothing technology · doi:10.1007/978-981-19-9634-4_2 · Cited by 3
Liu, S., Bai, S., Shi, C., et al. (2025) · Journal of Polymer Science · doi:10.1002/pol.20250646 · Cited by 2
Özen, İ., Bahtiyari, M. İ., Demi̇ryürek, O., et al. (2025) · Fibers and Polymers · doi:10.1007/s12221-025-01154-1 · Cited by 2
“Cellulose (cotton, vis-cose) fibers can be separated by filtration when PET is degraded to its monomers [45].”
Effects of chemical pretreatment on the enzymatic hydrolysis of post-consumer waste viscose
Bågenholm-Ruuth, E., Bagherigelvardi, M., Gustafsson, C., et al. (2024) · RSC Sustainability · doi:10.1039/d4su00486h · Cited by 1
Simple fabric-to-fibre recycling of PBT/cotton textile blends using water under mild conditions
Pandeirada, S. V., Lacerda, P. S. S., Meier, M. A. R., et al. (2025) · Green Chemistry · doi:10.1039/d5gc03705k · Cited by 1
Cotton Waste Management—Reducing Industrial Carbon Footprint Through Sustainable Practices
Gogari, S., Radha, & Pundir, A. K. (2026) · Environmental footprints and eco-design of products and processes · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-10909-5_2 · Cited by 1
Advancing Sustainability in Textiles: Natural Fibers, Bio-Based Materials, and Recycling Innovations
Kumari, N., Radha, & Puri, S. (2026) · Sustainable textiles · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-10921-7_5 · Cited by 1
Accurate quantification of polyester in textiles through complete depolymerisation and HPLC
Cerri, M., Pitkänen, L., Schutgens, C., & Hummel, M. (2026) · Analytical Methods · doi:10.1039/d6ay00086j · Cited by 1
Regenerating textile waste into cellulose: a sustainable solution for the circular economy. A review
Sas, O. G., Moreira, I. P., Fangueiro, R., et al. (2026) · Polymer Bulletin · doi:10.1007/s00289-025-06135-1 · Cited by 1
“This process allows obtaining fibers of different cross-section sizes [63 ].”
Boré, A., Lu, K., Zhou, Y., et al. (2026) · Waste Management · doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2026.115716 · Cited by 1
Recent Advances in Recycling Polyester–Cotton Blended Textiles: Review
Periyasamy, A. P., Seppälä, H., Määttänen, M., & Harlin, A. (2026) · Textiles · doi:10.3390/textiles6030092 · Cited by 1
“Output: Cotton fibres and PES powder (TPA) [56] Alkaline hydrolysis of PES Inputs: PES/Viscose (30/70).”
InfluentialPROCESS FOR PURIFICATION OF WASTE TEREPHTHALIC ACID GENERATED IN POLYESTER PLANT
Santra, C., Bhoir, S., Lande, S. V., et al. (2022) · Catalysis in Green Chemistry and Engineering · doi:10.1615/catalgreenchemeng.2022040024 · Cited by 1
Contamination Threshold Values for Textile Recycling
Behrendt, T., & Eppinger, E. (2024) · Lecture notes on multidisciplinary industrial engineering · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-48933-4_46 · Cited by 1
Jain, A., Killian, E., & Connon, S. J. (2025) · ChemSusChem · doi:10.1002/cssc.202501392
Lauesen, L. M., Jensen, P., & Ribens, L. (2020) · The Palgrave Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-22438-7_38-1
Lauesen, L. M., Jensen, P. D., & Ribens, L. (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-42465-7_38
Wang, M., Guo, J., Shi, S., Wang, S., Guo, H., Zhang, H., Tang, J., Jia, H., & Dai, J. (2022) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4117186
A review on evaluation of textile waste for ethanol extraction
Serbanescu, C., & Tanase, G. (2023) · Romanian Journal of Ecology & Environmental Chemistry · doi:10.21698/rjeec.2023.203
Utilising Cellulase Enzymes in the Controlled Degradation of Exemplar Polycotton FabricsPreprint
Hebden, A., Bentley, D., Vyrkou, A., et al. (2024) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4796877
Recovery, separation, and quality-based reutilization of PET in waste blended fabrics: A review
Zhu, J., Zhou, F., Li, H., Liu, D., Long, W., & Zhan, Y. (2025) · Materials Today Sustainability · doi:10.1016/j.mtsust.2025.101242
Depolymerization of polyesters catalyzed by binuclear metal complexes
Wu, Y., & Niu, Z. (2025) · Scientia Sinica Chimica · doi:10.1360/ssc-2025-0236
An eco-friendly approach for the separation and reusage of pre-consumer polycotton textile waste
Pedroso de Lima, F., Alves, C. S. P., Gomes-Dias, R., Fernandes, M. S. M., Vieira, B. M., Rodrigues, R., Padrão, J., & Zille, A. (2025) · Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT)
Mathew, M., Quarton, C., Nahil, M. A., & Williams, P. T. (2026) · Fuel Processing Technology · doi:10.1016/j.fuproc.2026.108428
Mutuku, E. M., & Valilai, O. F. (2026) · Lecture notes in networks and systems · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-24810-7_7
Xu, X., Chen, Z., Ng, K. T. W., Lyu, L., Chowdhury, R., Yang, X., & An, C. (2026) · Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management · doi:10.1007/s10163-026-02680-7
“[88, 113– 117] 3) Mechanical or thermomechanical recycling may reduce material quality because repeated processing can cause fiber shortening, reduced strength, or polymer degrada - tion.”
InfluentialSustainable MOFs from waste PET: bridging polymer recycling with advanced material applications
Yang, Q., Ran, C., Gao, Y., Hua, Y., Liu, C., Xia, S., Li, S., & Chen, X. (2026) · Greenverse Science · doi:10.20517/greenvsci.2026.16
Recycling of polyester from cotton/polyester blended fabrics using semiflow hydrothermal treatment
Ikeuchi, Y., Iitomi, M., Inagaki, J., et al. (2026) · Materials Today Communications · doi:10.1016/j.mtcomm.2026.116114
Footwear waste recycling: material complexity, technological barriers, and pathways to circularity
Vaishali, M., & Sreeram, K. J. (2026) · Resources Conservation and Recycling · doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2026.109146
Toward polycotton circularity: hybrid and integrated recycling approaches for polycotton textiles
Bouatay, Y., & Kızıldağ, N. (2026) · RSC Sustainability · doi:10.1039/d6su00387g
Metadata
- Authors
- Palme, A., Peterson, A., de la Motte, H., Theliander, H., & Brelid, H.
- Affiliations
- Chalmers University of Technology (SE)
- Södra Skogsägarna (Sweden) (SE)
- Venue
- Textiles and Clothing Sustainability
- Published
- 2017-02-22
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 2197-9936 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2591428436
- Semantic Scholar
- 4a1bcf8c259373526921c5e098c894c4c4804678
- Cited by
- 155
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 2.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Textiles and Clothing Sustainability (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Chalmers Research (Chalmers University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Diva portal (Dalarna University Library) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Chalmers Publication Library (Chalmers University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- MISTRA
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Polymers and Plastics › Polymer crystallization and properties
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Waste Management and Recycling
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
- Keywords
- PET hydrolysis, textile recycling, chemical recycling, polyesters, terephthalic acid, ethylene glycol, phase transfer catalyst, NaOH hydrolysis, cellulose degradation, intrinsic viscosity
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
