Valorization of recycled PET for yarn manufacturing and knitwear fabrics used for apparel applications

The world is facing huge energy crises and the creation of new environmentally friendly energy sources is imperative. Due to high strength, durability and low cost, polyester fibers yarn are most frequently used in textile sector for apparel and home textiles applications. The non-biodegradable nature of polyester is harmful for ecosystem. Recycling could be the only solution to reduce the environmental impact of polyester. Here, we developed a new potential method for recycling of wastewater polyester bottles to form its fibers. Single jersey knitted fabric were manufactured from recycled yarns. Physical properties of wastewater bottle based polyester yarns and fabrics such as yarn count, lea strength product, unevenness, elongation, burst strength, shrinkage, air permeability, and pilling were measured via respective instruments. We also developed fabric from the virgin polyester. It was observed that the properties of yarns and fabrics made from recycled polyesters fiber are comparable to that of virgin polyesters fabric. This exploration suggests economic and environmentally friendly solution for using wastewater polyester bottles based fibers for textiles application with comparable properties to that of virgin polyester fabric.