Solvent assisted approach for greener decoloration of textile and fashion waste

作者：Esha Sharma, Matthew Kevin Hardjopranoto, Poernomo Gunawan, Geok Leng Seah, Dalton Tay Chor Yong, Nupur Gupta, Yen Nan Liang, Xiao Hu · 发表于：Cleaner Engineering and Technology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.clet.2025.100990 · 被引用次数：7 · 研究领域：Dyeing and Modifying Textile Fibers、Enzyme-mediated dye degradation、Dye analysis and toxicity

There is a growing interest in the decolorization of pre-consumer textile waste, which includes manufacturing scraps with diverse compositions. This study investigates the effectiveness of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as a solvent for removing dye molecules from both polyester and cotton fabrics. Our findings demonstrate that DMSO significantly decolorizes 100 % PET textile waste after multiple treatment cycles, while its impact on cotton is less pronounced, underscoring the influence of dye-fiber bonding and the behaviour of DMSO on fiber. Nevertheless, DMSO can be effectively used as a pre-treatment on cotton and may even eliminate the need for a separate bleaching step. A notable advantage of using DMSO for blended textiles is its ability to reduce overall color intensity without the need to separate the blend components. This approach presents a sustainable solution for the decoloration of textile waste, emphasizing fewer processing steps, reduced chemical usage, and lower energy consumption during recycling of textile waste.