Cotton waste recycling: Quantitative and qualitative assessment

The waste produced in a cotton textile mill is an important factor in determining the operating cost and therefore in influencing mill profits. In this paper, we examine the waste percentage and the good fibre fraction for two cleaning machines and a card. The cleaning behaviour in spinning preparation, of each waste, is predicted by determining the trash content and the preparatory processing. The quality of recovered fibres is discussed and compared to other virgin cotton. In order to appreciate these fibres, we study the effect of cotton wastes on the rotor yarn quality. The results indicate that generated wastes contain about 50% good fibre. This secondary raw material showed good cleanability and characteristics; therefore it can be blended in a proportion between 15 and 25% without hardly noticeable changes in rotor yarn quality. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.