Muslin Deweaving through Combined Mechanical, Thermal and Chemical Methods

Fabric waste has become an escalating problem that stems from the ever-shortening clothing lifecycle. Previous cotton recycling processes used mechanical methods to break the cotton down into fiber; this comes at the cost of compromised strength. Sodium hydroxide has long been used in the textile industry to increase dye absorption and luster through mercerization. In this paper, the deweaving of cotton muslin fabric was attempted using the chemical interactions of NaOH in combination with heat and mechanical forces through agitation. Different NaOH concentrations were tested to determine the optimum condition for fabric decomposition on a laboratory scale. Overall, the muslin fabric treatment with 0.5 M NaOH yielded the most promising results for fiber quality retention and chemical usage. The NaOH solution was shown to be feasible in effectively deweaving multiple muslin fabrics consecutively. While the deweaving process reduces the mechanical strength of the fabric, overall, the recycling method was successful in minimizing chemical waste and deweaving time.