BACKGROUND

Upcycling is becoming an increasingly hot topic in our society. It is part of the new bioeconomy concept which promotes the production of value added products with a substantially reduced impact on the environment. Upcycling reduces landfills, harvest of trees, the use of chemicals, and the demand of water. Ioncell newsprint fibers were spun from a deinked newsprint/(DBNH)OAc dope by a dry-jet wet spinning method. The cellulose concentration of the dope was 13%. Filament jets were coagulated in water. The fibers were cutted into staples with a 40 mm length before washing. The yarns were spun from a 50:50 blend of  Ioncell newsprint fibers and commercial viscose fibers. The fibers were carded, drafted together, and ring-spun into a yarn. The spun yarn was knitted and a final product was prepared. Read more about Ioncell.

CHARACTERISTICS

Ioncell newsprint fibers are strong even when wet. They feels soft and looks shiny. The cross section is circular. Fibers absorbs water and they are biodegradable.

TECHNICAL DATA

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS

Using newsprint as raw material for cellulosic fiber spinning opens up new possibilities to upgrade waste material to high-value added products. Fibres spun from newsprint are suitable for textile application, bio-composites applications and other technical fibres. The staple lengths of 40-60 mm fibers can be used for short-staple yarn spinning as 100% or blended with natural or man-made fibers, and the staple lengths of 100-135 mm for long-staple yarn spinning. Yarns can be utilized in various textile applications, e.g. in knitted or woven fabrics. The staple lengths of 25-60 mm fibers can be used in nonwovens. Continuous filaments can be utilized in technical applications.

Photos: Eeva Suorlahti

TallennaTallenna

TallennaTallenna

BACKGROUND

Deep eutectic solvents can be used as a spinning medium for producing wood fibre yarn without dissolution. We constructed a modular prototype spinning line, where process critical parameters could be measured and controlled. We studied the influence of various spinning parameters and  were able to increase the load bearing capability and decrease the linear density of the yarn.

MACHINE CHARACTERISTICS

An inclined channel with an ethanol flow is used to induce draw on the incipent yarn. By adjusting the angle of the channel and flow rate of ethanol of ethanol yarn can be continuously spun.

TECHNICAL DATA

The inclined channel spinning approach was shown to both reduce the linear density and increase the load bearing capability of the yarn. Linear densities were reduced from 21-24 tex to approximately 13 tex. Tenacities were improved from the previously reported 5.3 ± 1.8 cN/tex to 7.5 ± 0.3 cN/tex

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS

Wood fibre yarns have possible applications in textiles, non-wovens and composites. For example pulp based wet-laid nonwovens could be produced by using wood fibre yarn instead of synthetic or viscose fibres.

Photo & Schematic: Ville Klar