Australia's UNSW research finds new purification use for textile waste

Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) SMaRT Centre have published new findings showing that waste textiles can be upcycled into high-performance activated carbon for purification and filtration applications, offering major sustainability gains over conventional coal-based production.

The study, published by Elsevier, demonstrates a scalable microrecycling approach that converts end-of-life textiles into activated carbon with tunable porosity ranging from 500 to 2,300 m² per gram, while minimising the need for extensive material sorting. Fourteen textile types—including cotton, polyester, jute, wool, viscose, nylon and blended fabrics—were analysed, with 11 found suitable for activated carbon production.

The process, developed under SMaRT’s ARC Microrecycling Research Hub, involves phosphoric acid (H3PO4) impregnation, thermal transformation, activation, water scrubbing and drying. By optimising these parameters, researchers were able to tailor pore structure and surface area for applications such as water and air purification.

According to SMaRT Centre director professor Veena Sahajwalla, the research shows it is possible to divert problematic textile waste streams from landfill and reform them into valuable materials used across water, air, gas, food and beverage purification systems, UNSW said in a release.

“The research was able to demonstrate a 36 per cent reduction in embodied carbon and over 99 per cent reduction in embodied energy demand relative to conventional coal-derived activated carbon, which has been an essential material created the world over for a wide variety of important and critical purifications systems,” Sahajwalla said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (HU)