DAEJEON – Scientists at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) have developed a new chemical technology to separate polyester from mixed and contaminated waste textiles for recycling.
They say it has also led them to a new lower energy chemical recycling process to convert polyester back into its core monomers which can be used as the building blocks for virgin quality new materials.
The KRICT team used an unidentified “unique chemical compound” to separate polyester from waste textiles, a process they refer to as “chemical sorting”, according to a study published in the ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering journal.
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