By: Seshadri Ramkumar, Professor, Texas Tech University, USA
(September 16, 2024)—Sustainability and the need to find new markets for cotton are priority areas for the global cotton sector.
The Nonwovens & Advanced Materials Laboratory at Texas Tech University has a dedicated laboratory focusing on advanced cotton products.
FiberTect decontamination wipe was invented at the laboratory, which being a platform technology lends itself to using cotton layers depending on the need. Cotton nonwovens were shown to absorb toxic oil ranging between 30 g/g and 50 g/g depending on the type of oil. The laboratory pioneered the absorption of crude oil using raw cotton fibers.
Given the microplastic issue and its impact on human health, the use of raw cotton for decontaminating oil spill is gaining attention. Texas Tech’s Nonwovens Laboratory pioneered the work during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Developing lightweight nonwovens using raw cotton to find technical applications is an ongoing project at Texas Tech University. Lightweight nonwovens from cotton using needlepunching technology is a challenge. Today, the visit of Roger Vaillancourt, Service Manager-North America of Autefa Solutions is helping the laboratory to finetune the needlepunching line to develop lightweight nonwovens from raw cotton.
Graduate students Mirza Khyum and Faizur Rahman are enthusiastic to receive valuable technical inputs from Vaillancourt who has 46 years of experience in nonwoven machinery operations and product development.
Very few installations in the world develop nonwoven products from raw cotton.
As industries are expected to meet the United nations’ sustainability goals and create value-added applications for natural fibers, ongoing projects at Texas Tech University’s Nonwovens Laboratory could create sustainable products and find new opportunities for cotton.
Video showing the processing of raw cotton on September 16, 2024, is available here:
