Why cellulose is the answer to our future textile demands?

As the population of the world increases so does the average income leading to more consumption.

The demand for clothes and textiles is also rising and the global textile consumption in 2050 is estimated to be three times as high as it was in 2015.

Cotton is the dominant raw material in textile production but as the demand for food increases more land will be allocated to food production while cotton production will go down.

The demand for newspapers and sheets of paper is decreasing while the demand for environment- friendly forest based fibres is on the rise.

Presently, around 60 per cent of the textiles are produced from petroleum. But oil is not a renewable raw material and in the future it will not be available.

This means that a new environmentally friendly source of raw material is needed to meet future textile needs.

Researchers from the Karlstad University of Sweden have presented a doctoral thesis based on their study which suggests that cellulose produced from pine and fir can be the environmentally-friendly textile fibre of the future.

The research consisted of two types of sulphite pulping of fir and pine wood. With the focus on generating new knowledge about sulphite technology, the study investigates important aspects of pulp production based on cheaper raw material for cellulose production.

The study helps understand what happens in the sulphite pulping process of softwood where the end product is dissolving pulp – nearly pure cellulose, while investigating if the sulphite process can be further improved to achieve better economy efficiency.

The findings are useful in the manufacture of better sulphite pulp and can help in establishing new sulphite mills in the long term.

The study also shows that different raw material can be mixed and still result in cellulose of the highest quality. Plus there is the possibility to produce profitable by-products such as ethanol which makes the manufacturing process sustainable and beneficial for the society and the environment.

The forest industry has long been facing the problem of decreasing demand due to less paper consumption. The demand for newspapers and sheets of paper is decreasing while the demand for environment-friendly forest based fibres is on the rise, which makes this study timely and apt in providing solutions to rising textile demand, while also being sustainable and beneficial to the forest industry.

Source: Karlstad University