Green chemistry degradation of cotton waste for circular economy textiles

1948422（Kim）。服装行业是世界上污染最严重的行业之一，每年产生12亿吨碳排放，每秒全球丢弃一卡车服装。转移大量棉纺织废料是一种有希望的途径，可以最大限度地减少污染以及新服装的能源和水密集型生产。将天然织物废弃物分解为再生纤维原料的绿色化学策略具有巨大的潜力，可以基于摇篮到摇篮的设计策略实现零废弃物经济。在时装设计学校（如FIT）的时装设计缝纫、悬垂和样板制作课程中，大约三分之一的棉布被浪费了。教室里使用的棉布是未经染色和漂白的，这使得它成为开发绿色方法将天然纤维分解为纤维素原料的绝佳资源。该项目旨在阐明化学和表面科学对优化环境友好的降解过程至关重要，以重组细布废物，生产纺织品的前体材料。本论文的研究目标包括：1）优化环境友好的废棉纤维素原料再生方法。2)降解/再生机制的宏观到纳米级表征，以确定减少纺织废物流的新机会。该项目是一个合作机会，让学生在科学和设计的交叉点实现循环经济和可持续发展领导力。它还为基于项目的STEM教育提供了一个渠道，作为应对紧迫的全球挑战的工具。该项目的成功成果将为棉布废弃物的绿色化学降解提供一种方法。对环境友好的湿化学路线的调查将与一套化学分析工具相结合，包括光谱学和显微镜，以了解工艺化学和棉花分子结构之间的相互作用。这项研究的重点将是扩大化学方法的效用，从平纹细布废物到一般的纤维素纺织品和染色织物。这项工作可能会极大地影响循环经济材料可访问模型的开发，并为STEM框架中的生态设计和系统思维提供渠道。来自FIT的非传统科学学生（特别是女性和少数民族）将通过STEM教育研究所（I-STEM）在斯托尼布鲁克大学开展研究活动，科学与工程女性（WISE）计划，本科生研究创意活动（URECA），本科生研究经验（REU）计划和全纳教育中心（CIE）以及FIT。来自斯托尼布鲁克大学和FIT的本科生将获得学分，无论是独立研究还是在跨学科课程或计划之一的项目工作中（例如，使用新兴材料进行设计，真正的成本：产品生命周期评估）该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的评估被认为值得支持。影响审查标准。

1948422 (Kim). The clothing industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world, producing 1.2 billion tons of carbon emissions per year, with a truckload of clothing discarded globally every second. Diverting high volume cotton textile waste is a promising route to minimize pollution and energy and water-intensive production of new clothing. Green chemistry strategies to breakdown natural fabric waste into feedstocks for reconstituted fibers has tremendous potential to move towards zero waste economies based on cradle to cradle design strategies. About one third of the cotton muslin used at educational fashion institutions (e.g. FIT) in the fashion design sewing, draping and pattern making classes, goes to waste. The cotton muslin used in the classrooms is undyed and unbleached, making it an excellent resource for developing green methods to breakdown natural fibers to cellulosic feedstock. This project seeks to elucidate the chemistry and surface science crucial for optimizing an environmentally-benign degradation process to reconstitute muslin waste to produce precursor materials for textiles. The research objectives of the work include: 1) Optimization of an environmentally-benign method for the regeneration of cellulosic feedstock from cotton waste. 2) Macro to nanoscale characterization of degradation/regeneration mechanisms to identify new opportunities for reduction of the textile waste stream. This project is a collaborative opportunity for student-driven realization of circular economy and sustainability leadership at the intersection of science and design. It also provides a conduit for project-based STEM education as a tool to address pressing global challenge. Successful outcomes of the project will provide a method for cotton muslin waste green chemistry degradation procedures. Investigation of environmentally-benign wet chemistry routes to muslin breakdown will be coupled with a suite of chemical analysis tools, including spectroscopy and microscopy, to understand the interaction between process chemistry and cotton molecular structure. The research will focus on expanding the utility of the chemical approach beyond muslin waste to cellulosic textiles and dyed fabrics in general. This work could highly impact the development of accessible models for circular economy materials and offers a conduit for ecological design and systems thinking in a STEM framework. Non- traditional science students from FIT (especially women and minorities) will perform research activities at Stony Brook University through the Institute for STEM Education (I-STEM), the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program, Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities (URECA), Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs, and the Center for Inclusive Education (CIE) as well as at FIT. Undergraduate students from both Stony Brook University and FIT will receive academic credit, either for independent research or in the context of project work in one of the interdisciplinary courses or programs (e.g. Designing with Emerging Materials, The True Cost: Product Life Cycle Assessment).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.