ORGS5-1156
Upcycling Cotton–PET Textiles into Hydrogel Adsorbent Sheets for Water Pollutant Removal
Topic
GS5. Graduate Student Oral Session V: Sustainable Polymers and Circular Materials
When and Where
Sep 28, 2026
14:12 - 14:24
Room 105
Session Chairs
Taehoo CHANG
Taejun EOM
Chae Bin KIM
Presenter(s)
Guanglong HUANG (Nagoya University)
Co-Author(s)
Abstract
Cotton–PET blended textiles are among the most challenging polymer wastes to recycle because conventional methods require fiber separation prior to material recovery [1]. Here, we report a separation-free upcycling strategy that converts blended textiles into hydrogel-immobilized composite adsorbents through complete utilization of both textile components. The PET component is first depolymerized via aminolysis to generate amine-rich oligomers with reactive amino functionalities [2]. These oligomers are subsequently cross-linked with an epoxy cross-linker to form a hydrogel network, while the cotton fibers are retained as a structure scaffold, producing mechanically stable composite sheets without generating secondary waste. The resulting composites exhibit a tensile strength of approximately 20 MPa and a swelling ratio of 5 g g-1. The PET-derived hydrogel introduces abundant protonatable amine groups, enabling pH-responsive and charge-selective adsorption toward aqueous contaminants. Consequently, the composite achieves an equilibrium adsorption capacity of 387 mg g-1 for Orange II while maintaining over 99 % removal efficiency after ten adsorption-desorption cycles. In addition, the material effectively removes Cu2+ ions and ketoprofen, demonstrating its versatility for water purification. Overall, this work demonstrates how selective polymer transformation can be integrated with preservation of a cellulose framework to construct functional polymer-fiber composites, providing a sustainable strategy for the high-value utilization of blended textile waste and offering new opportunities for circular polymer materials [3].
References:
[1] Zhou, Q., et. al., Environmental Technology Reviews, 2022, 11, 62.
[2] Chan, K., and Zinchenko, A., Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 2021, 9, 106129
[3] Huang, G., and Zinchenko, A., Journal of Cleaner Production, 2026, 568, 148700.
References:
[1] Zhou, Q., et. al., Environmental Technology Reviews, 2022, 11, 62.
[2] Chan, K., and Zinchenko, A., Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 2021, 9, 106129
[3] Huang, G., and Zinchenko, A., Journal of Cleaner Production, 2026, 568, 148700.
