Last modified: 2014-09-11
Abstract
growth and higher living standards. In Sweden, approximately 130,000
tonnes of textiles are consumed annually and end up as waste. This paper
describes a preliminary investigation of textile recycling techniques which
can potentially replace incineration - the dominant waste management
method in Sweden. Life cycle assessment is performed to explore the
potential environmental benefits of the textile recycling techniques. The
investigated recycling processes are: remanufacturing, separation of
cellulose from polyester using N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide; and chemical
polyester recycling. The results show that incineration has the highest global
warming potential and primary energy usage of compared alternatives. The
other options thus seem to be promising alternatives since they also replace
products from primary resources.
Keywords
References
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