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Scientific Article details

Title Exergy Footprint Assessment of Cotton Textile Recycling to Polyethylene
ID_Doc 23692
Authors Popescu, AP; Cheah, YK; Varbanov, PS; Klemes, JJ; Kabli, MR; Shahzad, K
Title Exergy Footprint Assessment of Cotton Textile Recycling to Polyethylene
Year 2022
Published Energies, 15, 1
DOI 10.3390/en15010205
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.
Author Keywords chemical recycling; GHG emissions; Exergy Footprint; cotton textile recycling
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED)
EID WOS:000741813600001
WoS Category Energy & Fuels
Research Area Energy & Fuels
PDF https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/1/205/pdf?version=1641266733
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