Lint-Microfibers Found in Clothes Dryers Can be Converted Into Energy Using Pyrolysis Treatment

Lint-microfibers are textile waste generated in clothes dryers and are classified as primary microplastics that mainly consists of cotton, lignin, and polyester.

Now, scientists from the Kaunas University of Technology and the Lithuanian Energy Institute proposed an eco-friendly technique to convert these textile wastes into energy.

The team of scientists built a pyrolysis plant and developed a mathematical model to calculate the economic and environmental outcomes of the technology, according to Phys.org. They estimated that converting lint-microfibers produced by 1 million people could produce 13.8 tons of oil, 21.5 tons of gas, and 9.7 tons of charcoal, with a profitability of $120,400.

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Lint-Microfibers Found in Clothes Dryers Can be Converted Into Energy Using Pyrolysis Treatment

Lint-Microfibers Could Threaten the Environment

According to the news outlet, the global population consumes around 80 million pieces of clothing every year, and approximately $169 million worth of textile goes to the landfill. Not to mention the carbon emissions produced by the textile industry that cause serious environmental and health problems.

Due to that, scientists and environmental groups tried looking for ways to lessen the carbon footprint of consuming clothes. One of these ways is to reduce laundry impact during a machine-washing process of textile, which could generate up to 300 mg of lint-microfibers from a 1 kg textile.

Study author Dr. Samy Yousef said that lint-microfibers are microplastics that are less than 5mm in diameter and are one of those being washed down the drains and entered the seas.

The team developed an eco-friendly technology that could generate energy from lint-microfibers that are collected from filters of clothes dryers in the dormitories of KTU. They noted the diverse textile waste they collected as residents come from different cultures in Africa, America, Asia, and Europe.

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Converting Lint-Microfibers Into Energy

The study, entitled "A new strategy for using lint-microfibers generated from clothes dryer as a sustainable source of renewable energy" published in the Science of the Total Environment, showed that the pyrolysis plant built by researchers at the laboratories of Lithuanian Energy Institue was able to extract three energy products from the lint-microfibers.

Pyrolisis treatment is the process of heating biomass in the absence of oxygen, so the material does not combust but converts it to combustible gases and charcoal. Researchers found that lint-microfibers decompose into oil, gas, and char when they are treated thermally with a 70% conversion rate.

"When we think about textile waste, we usually imagine long fabric with high crystallinity, which is contaminated with dye and dirt. Much energy is needed to turn the solid waste into liquid. However, lint-microfiber is a somewhat 'broken fiber' textile waste; it has a uniform size and shape, contains a lot of flammable compounds (resulted cotton and polyester elements), its transformation is easier", says Dr. Yousef said in KTU's news release.

He added that the collection system could be developed and that lint-microfibers could be collected from households via collection points, and residents could receive compensation for it.

Previous studies show that lint-microfibers could be used as a source of renewable energy that will ensure sustainability and accelerate the transition from being a plain textile industry to a circular economy.

The team also developed an eco-friendly way to extract cotton, glucose, and energy products from textile waste and end-of-life banknotes using biological, chemical, mathematical, and thermal treatments.