Valorization of fabric wastes through production of recycled cotton yarns by compact ring and open-end rotor spinning

Abstract

This study aims to determine the appropriate methods and parameters for the eco-friendly and sustainable production of finer yarns from recycled cotton fibers with acceptable quality and high recycled fiber ratios to transform pre-consumer textile wastes into better-quality products with value-added in the ready-made clothing industry. Cotton fibers were mechanically recycled from dyed fabric wastes. Mélange 100% cotton yarns were produced with different recycled/virgin fiber blend ratios (80/20, 72/28, 64/36, and 56/44) at different yarn counts (30 and 20 tex) and by different spinning methods (compact and open-end spinning) without any chemicals treatment. The yarn properties were tested and compared to determine the best production parameters. As a result of the study, it was seen that the yarn properties improved when the proportion of virgin cotton fiber in the yarn increased in parallel with previous studies. Besides, the yarn hairiness and unevenness of open-end yarns were better than compact yarns. On the other hand, using the compact spinning method led to higher yarn tenacity. The results indicated that the compact spinning method is advantageous in achieving the target of increasing the ratio of recycled fiber use with good tenacity for the production of %100 cotton yarns.