Fiber-based products and textiles in their overall life cycle significantly contribute to anthropogenic green-house gas emissions, resource consumption and environmental microplastics pollution. To tackle these problems, researchers from the University of Konstanz, RWTH Aachen University and the German Institutes of Textile and Fibre Research Denkendorf have joined forces in the collaborative project "Textile Materials Designed for Circularity" ("teXirc" for short). The Volkswagen Foundation supports the project with a total of 1.4 million euros as part of their "Circularity with recycled and biogenic resources" funding initiative.
"A major obstacle in resolving these crucial issues is that today's established fiber materials were not designed for circularity", explains Stefan Mecking, Chair of Chemical Materials Science in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Konstanz and teXirc coordinator.
From lab to prototype
In their collaborative project, the researchers will develop novel types of synthetic fibres and textiles based on sustainable raw material that can be produced on an industrial scale, are easy to process and closed-loop recyclable under mild technical conditions. Unlike conventional materials, the new fibres and textiles will also be easily biodegradable. This is important in the event that they are released, which happens, for example, due to the ubiquitous abrasion of fibres during washing.
"Key for us is material with a polyethylene-like crystallinity in which we incorporate low-density functional groups that represent a kind of molecular predetermined breaking point. Using enzymes, we can very efficiently break down the long carbon chains that make up plastics and synthetic fibres – for example during recycling processes", Mecking says. The goal of teXirc is to advance scalable materials and recycling processes to a prototype level that allows subsequent implementation into first products.
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