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Exergy Footprint Assessment of Cotton Textile Recycling to Polyethylene

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  • Alexandra Plesu Popescu

    (Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Yen Keong Cheah

    (Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Petar Sabev Varbanov

    (Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory—SPIL, NETME Centre, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology—VUT BRNO, Technická 2896/2, 61669 Brno, Czech Republic)

  • Jiří Jaromír Klemeš

    (Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory—SPIL, NETME Centre, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology—VUT BRNO, Technická 2896/2, 61669 Brno, Czech Republic)

  • Mohammad Reda Kabli

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia)

  • Khurram Shahzad

    (Center of Excellence in Environmental Studies, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

Circular economy implementations tend to decrease the human pressure on the environment, but not all produce footprint reductions. That observation brings the need for tools for the evaluation of recycling processes. Based on the Exergy Footprint concept, the presented work formulates a procedure for its application to industrial chemical recycling processes. It illustrates its application in the example of cotton waste recycling. This includes the evaluation of the entire process chain of polyethylene synthesis by recycling cotton waste. The chemical recycling stages are identified and used to construct the entire flowsheet that eliminates the cotton waste and its footprints at the expense of additional exergy input. The exergy performance of the process is evaluated. The identified exergy assets and liabilities are 138 MJ/kg ethylene and 153 MJ/kg ethylene, reducing the Exergy Footprint by 75% and the greenhouse gas footprint by 43% compared to the linear pattern of polyethylene production. The exergy requirements for producing raw cotton constitute a large fraction of the liabilities, while the polyethylene degradation provides the main asset in the reduction of the Exergy Footprint.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexandra Plesu Popescu & Yen Keong Cheah & Petar Sabev Varbanov & Jiří Jaromír Klemeš & Mohammad Reda Kabli & Khurram Shahzad, 2021. "Exergy Footprint Assessment of Cotton Textile Recycling to Polyethylene," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-22, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2021:i:1:p:205-:d:713585
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kirilova, Elisaveta G. & Vladova, Rayka K. & Vaklieva-Bancheva, Natasha Gr, 2020. "Heat integration of two-stage autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion system for reducing the impact of uncertainty," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    2. Wang, Xue-Chao & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Wang, Yutao & Foley, Aoife & Huisingh, Donald & Guan, Dabo & Dong, Xiaobin & Varbanov, Petar Sabev, 2021. "Unsustainable imbalances and inequities in Carbon-Water-Energy flows across the EU27," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
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