Hydrophobization of the Man-Made Cellulosic Fibers by Incorporating Plant-Derived Hydrophobic Compounds

Kaniz Moriam,Chamseddine Guizani,Michael Altgen,Marja Rissanen,Leena-Sisko Johansson,Dmitry Victorovitch Evtyugin,Herbert Sixta,Michael Hummel,Daisuke Sawada

doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c00695

Kaniz Moriam, Chamseddine Guizani + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c00695

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Abstract

The cellulosic fiber-based sustainable textile industry needs greener alternatives to the existing hydrophobization approaches—which are essentially based on nonrenewable and expensive hydrophobizing agents and adversely impact the environment. Herein, we report the production of novel hydrophobic cellulose based fibers produced by incorporating nature-derived hydrophobic additives—betulin (BE) and betulinic acid (BA) using the Ioncell technology. The incorporation process is simple and does not require any additional step during dry-jet wet spinning. Spinning dopes containing up to 10 wt % BE and BA were spinnable and the spun fibers (10BE and 10BA) maintained their mechanical properties. Compared to BE, BA-incorporated fiber showed homogeneous surface morphology suggesting the increased compatibility of BA with cellulose. Consequently, in contrast to BE-incorporated fibers, BA-incorporated fibers demonstrated higher yarn spinnability. Both 10BE and 10BA fibers showed hydrophobicity (water contact angle >90°) in the produced nonwovens and yarns. In summary, we developed a system for hydrophobizing man-made cellulose fiber via a simple eco-friendly and cost-effective way, which has potential for scalability and industrial applications.

Highlights

The phenomenon of “fast fashion” has promoted the use of low-cost synthetic fibers, which is one reason for the enormous expansion of global textile production by 50% during 2000− 2015.1 The production and use of synthetic fibers has several adverse effects on the environment such as microplastic accumulation and increasing carbon footprint.[2]
As an alternative to postmodification for textile hydrophobization, we investigated the applicability of the incorporation technique for introducing natural additives such as betulin and betulinic acid during the dissolution process
Filament formation in the dry-jet wet spinning process depends on the stretch ability of the cellulose solution and its response to the deformation force inside capillary spinneret holes as well as in the air gap.[47]

Summary

■ INTRODUCTION

The phenomenon of “fast fashion” has promoted the use of low-cost synthetic fibers, which is one reason for the enormous expansion of global textile production by 50% during 2000− 2015.1 The production and use of synthetic fibers has several adverse effects on the environment such as microplastic accumulation and increasing carbon footprint.[2]. On the basis of the hydrophobicity data obtained from films and nonwovens made of BE-incorporated postconsumer cotton fibers, both BE and BA (optimized 10 wt % amount) were incorporated into pulp and spun into staple fibers, which were further studied to investigate the wettability and surface properties. Previous studies showed that eliminating water from the cellulosic materials during the pump-down is critical for the measured XPS surface composition.[57] most of the nonpolar C−C carbon would be expected to originate from a carbonaceous passivation layer formed on the fiber surfaces during the pump-down, in order to lower the surface energy of hydrophilic cellulose in the absence of water.[45] This justifies XPS as a suitable test for qualitative confirmation of change in the surface properties for additive incorporated fibers. Further research is required to introduce covalent bonding between the cellulose and BE or BA using the reactions that will not significantly affect the mechanical properties of the fibers

■ CONCLUSIONS

■ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

■ REFERENCES