Recycling

Biography

Biography: Mohamed Ameur Arfaoui

Abstract

A large quantity of jute fibres is used each year, for example as packaging bags for cotton and coffee or as a building material. These fibres can be recycled after use and given a second life in order to divert them from landfill. However, their performance may be reduced compared to virgin jute. In particular, they may become more sensitive to moisture. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a hydrophobic treatment for recycled jute fibres. A non-woven composed of 85% of recycled jute fibres and 15% of sheath/core bicomponent fibres was manufactured by carding/needling and thermally bonded using a calendar. The jute nonwoven was then coated with a dip-pad-dry method using different solutions of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles developed by a sol-gel process. It was followed by a treatment by different concentrations of stearic acid, a typical fatty acid. The untreated samples had a water drop retention time of 31s. They became superhydrophilic after being treated with the TiO2 solutions. Upon treatment with more than 4 mM of stearic acid, the sample retention time exceeded 120 min, indicating an hydrophobic behavior. This study also showed that the TiO2 nanoparticles size, which increased with the ethanol concentration in the TiO2 solutions, did not seem to have an effect on the nonwoven hydrophobicity. In addition, no significant effect of the hydrophobic treatment on the thermal stability of the jute nonwovens was observed. This “green” hydrophobic treatment opens large opportunities for technical applications of recycled jute fibres.