The application of recycled fiber

The development of chemical fiber industry so far, the use of recycled fiber is not new in foreign countries. Since 2010, Nike has produced about 115 million reusable PET bottles for its high-performance jerseys; NBA's LeBron James and British player Wayne Rooney have been wearing recycled PET bottles. Shirts; internationally renowned luxury brands such as LV, also promote the use of recycled materials. Inadvertently, recycled fiber has entered the lives of ordinary people.

The rapid development of complex preparations to turn plastic bottles into recycled fibres is intuitively not a simple process, and it is also true. In terms of preparation, there are currently two major processing methods for this green fiber. One is to recover recycled terylene or recycled polypropylene fiber by recovering bottle-recovery materials, such as screw melt-extrusion after crystallizing and two-stage high-precision filtration technology. The other method is to chemically alcoholize the recovered waste clothes, completely reduce it to monomer molecular level, filter and remove impurities, then make PET chips through polymerization, and finally spin into fibers.

After having established a mature market development environment and preparation basis, China's recycled recycled fibers have begun to develop in terms of output and quality. "Although China's recycled polyester industry has a history of more than 30 years, it has developed rapidly in recent years and is mainly concentrated in the eastern coastal areas of China. In 2010, China's renewable polyester fiber production capacity reached 6.2 million tons per year. "Shandong Longfu Huaneng Technology Co., Ltd. Chairman Duan Jianguo introduced. Not only that, according to Shen Binghua, Vice Minister of Sales of Zhejiang Jiaren New Material Co., Ltd., in 2011, China's renewable polyester fiber production capacity has reached 7 million tons, and it has become the world's largest renewable polyester fiber country.

Specific to the level of China's chemical fiber companies, China's current batch of outstanding recycled fiber companies have also had their own production. For example, Shandong Longfu Huaneng Technology Co., Ltd. is now using polyester bottle flakes to produce recycled polyester filament POY, DTY, FDY, and polyester industrial yarns. Now Longfor Energy can recycle 100,000 tons of plastic bottles and save 150,000 tons of oil in one year. Hangzhou Best Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd. also uses polyester PET bottles as raw materials to produce polyester staple fibers and differentiated fibers. The products are even exported to the United States, Russia, Japan, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Chen Hao, general manager of Haiyan Haili Environmental Protection Fiber Co., Ltd. also stated that since 2007, the company has independently developed the recycling technology of discarded polyester bottles, and has successfully developed a series of differentiated filaments from the entire bottle processing to the direct spinning of bottle pieces. With recycled polyester technology, 5 invention patents and 11 utility model patents were obtained.

Disadvantages and bottlenecks in excellent performance Each recycling of 1 ton of recycled products can reduce 6 tons of oil consumption and reduce 32 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by 200 trees a day. These figures can be said to be beyond the imagination of everyone. The small PET bottle, after becoming a fiber, can bring about such a big change for the whole earth and the whole society.

However, such a green fiber with excellent environmental protection effect also has certain defects and bottlenecks in the development process. At present, more than 95% of China's recycled polyester manufacturers are based on staple fiber production. "The reason is that the source of raw materials for recycled polyester fiber is relatively complex, and often because of different colors, different purities, and different viscosities, and A lot of impurities, resulting in a great difference in raw material properties, so the production of common specifications of short fibers, become the choice of the vast majority of manufacturers.” Duan Jianguo introduced.

In addition, at present, China's recycled polyester products are still difficult to meet the needs of domestic and foreign markets for the development of recycled polyester fiber products. Shen Binghua told reporters that there are many factors that cause this embarrassing situation, such as the lack of systematic and continuous investment in technology, talents, equipment and product development, market development, etc., and the management level is not high enough for domestic recycled fiber products. Not continuous enough, it is difficult to form large-scale production. Moreover, the products are mainly based on low-grade cotton, fillers, and non-woven fabrics, and cannot meet the high-value-added products such as functional filament, high-grade knitted fabrics, and home textile fabrics required by the international market, and cannot form a virtuous circle. Development posture.

The level of development of recycled fiber at home and abroad, in some respects, still does exist. Wang Rui, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology, said that foreign countries started earlier. Fibers in this area are better in terms of quality stability, equipment is more mature, color processing of recycled materials, sorting of used textiles, and recycling of plastics. Cleanliness and other aspects also have more advanced methods and are more secure in terms of cleanliness and safety. However, she also stated that with the emphasis on recycling recycled fibers, domestic investment has increased year by year, and the gap with foreign countries is also gradually narrowing.

The application of the broad prospects With the continuous development and progress of recycling recycled fibers, the scope of application has now been extended to clothing, home textiles, industrial applications, such as carpets, bedding, or blended with other fibers for clothing, Used in fillers and non-woven fabrics such as geotextiles and insulating materials.

In terms of subdivision, recycled polyester FDY can be used as a base for backing, oxford, and edging, or as a silk-like fabric, while recycled polyester DTY can be blended with cotton, wool, hemp, and chemical fibers to produce each A variety of specifications of knitted and woven fabrics can be used to make jackets, casual wear, bed sheets, towels, socks and so on. Regenerated polyester industrial filaments are mainly used for tire cords, conveyor belts, canvases, and so on. The recycled polyester staple fiber is mainly used for automotive interiors, shading products, and fibers for filling such as toys and sofas. The recycled polypropylene industrial filament yarn has the characteristics of high color fastness, stable performance, strong toughness, anti-aging, wear resistance, anti-corrosion, and low cost. It can be used to produce polypropylene webbing, polypropylene cloth and other derivatives.

At present, domestic recycled fiber has been well presented in the downstream applications. Take Fujian Sanhong Renewable Resources Technology Co., Ltd. as an example. The 105,000 tons of waste plastics that are recycled and reused every year have been used to make environmental protection backpacks, computer bags, and slippers. Among them, the soles of the environmental protection slippers and the uppers of the joints at the soles are made of PP material, and the non-slip lines are provided on the underside of the soles, so the anti-slip performance is good and the cost is low.

Look at the school uniform made from recycled women's recycled fiber. “Using our ECOCIRCLE recyclable recycled fabrics, we use eco-friendly dyes and auxiliaries in the printing, dyeing and finishing processes. The fabrics are soft to the touch, flexible, and not easy to pill, but also have a pure color, high color fastness, and moisture absorption. The function of sweat." Shen Binghua introduced.

“It can be said that recycled fiber is a kind of fiber that leads the consumer trend and contains huge economic benefits. To achieve efficient, low-cost recycling, we must start from the characteristics of waste and effectively combine the cost of recycling with the value of end products. Really value for money.In my opinion, achieving a healthy cycle of operations is of great significance both for the plastics industry and for the sustainable development of our chemical fiber industry. In the future, we will gather these recycled fibers together. Ester production enterprises are also faced with higher requirements for development. They must follow the development of new technologies, improve the preparation of bottle grade raw materials at any time according to market conditions, speed up the adjustment of product structure, and do their utmost to expand the application of this fiber. The field, leading the recycling of recycled fiber from the past, the field of coarse non-woven to the current consumption of high-end products continue to advance.” Duan Jianguo suggested.

Recycling fiber application experience As a representative of fast fashion brands, many of our garments use recycled fiber. Because it is not only environmentally friendly, it also has some functionality. At present, many Chinese people do not recognize recycled products. They believe that the production of polyester bottles is of low grade. In fact, this is a wrong view. Developed countries are proud to use products made from recycled fibers. China still lacks relevant guidance in this regard and needs to promote such fibers and clothing products.

——Uniquku’s limited resources such as oil and arable land provide a broad market space for recycled fiber and recycled functional apparel products. Now in the world, many people will choose to regenerate products. Even if they will spend more money, it is environmental protection after all. The reason we will choose recycled fiber is actually very simple, that is, the grade is not low, not only can be made of end products, but also can do better.

——ZARA

We have chosen China's recycling recycled fiber as automotive textiles for three reasons. First, prices have advantages. As an alternative product, the price is more suitable than the original product. Second, the product quality makes us satisfied. Third, the automobile industry pays attention. The concept of environmental protection, the application of recycled fiber is in line with this concept.

- Audi Some of our car interiors use recycled fiber. It is a great pleasure to see that recycled fiber has become one of China's fiber trends in 2013/2014. This allows our downstream companies to better understand that the fiber we use is in line with future trends. The release of fiber trends is a guide for us. It can be said that the downstream application companies are even more at ease.

—— Chery's extended reading of recycled recycled fiber is based on the use of waste bottles, plastics, and clothing as raw materials, combined with modern technology such as chemistry and physics, and spinning processing. It not only expands new fiber resources, but also uses energy-saving reduction in combination with application requirements. The new technology has been upgraded, product quality and function have been improved, and the unity of recycling, low carbon and high added value has been realized. Recycled fiber, like Phoenix rebirth, is infinitely endless and endless. It is a concept, a culture, a responsibility, and a fashion.

Twenty 500mL polyester bottles can be used to make one coat. Five 2L PET bottles can be used to make 0.09m2 carpets. 35 2L PET bottles can be used to make all the filling fibers used in a sleeping bag. Recycled polyester industry Recover 1 ton and reduce 3.2 tons of CO2 emissions. One ton of waste PET bottle can produce about 0.9 tons of recycled polyester fiber, and use less 1.5 tons of oil, saving 3 cubic meters of landfill space. Polypropylene (PP) is a general-purpose resin with excellent performance and versatility. Recycling has become an inevitable trend to solve environmental and social problems.

The renewable chemical fiber industry represented by the industry's recyclable economy can not only solve the environmental pollution problems caused by the discard of polyester and polypropylene fibers and products, realize the recycling of resources and protect the environment, but also reduce energy consumption and reduce China's exposure to international crude oil. rely.