Thermally insulating and moisture-resilient foams from textile waste

Research question  

How to use textile waste-based fibrils together with biobased additives and develop environmentally benign processing routes to generate textile waste-based foams with superinsulating properties (i.e., a thermal conductivity below the value for air) and high wet strength.  

Sustainability aspects

This project addresses the need to substantially increase the recycling and upcycling of waste into useful materials. The current production of textiles consumes large amounts of water, often uses toxic chemicals for dyeing, and is responsible for large emissions of greenhouse gases. This project aims to demonstrate how fibrils extracted from textiles can be used to prepare thermally insulating and moisture-resilient foams using energy-efficient routes with minimal impact on the environment and humans. 

Reducing the energy needed to maintain a pleasant interior environment in buildings and at the same time replacing current fossil-based insulation materials are essential for the mitigation of climate change.