324
14 Cellulose
(where none is currently existing) and the demand for such production in the global
market.
14.7.1 Textile
The textile industry is one of the earliest and one of the largest in the world.
The textile industry formed the basis for the first industrial revolution. As
of 2008, 24,025,100 tonnes of cotton, 3,097,000 tonnes of cellulosic fibers,
361,590,800 tonnes of wool, 790,100 tonnes of flax and 558,400 tonnes of synthetic fibers were consumed globally (FAO 2011). There is an increasing demand for
more sustainable methods of fabric production. Aquatic plants are yet to be commercially explored for production of alternative cellulose-based fabrics on commercial
scale.
Cotton has been the main cellulose-based fiber in the textiles and garment industry.
In the past seven decades, for reasons such as yield, pest on cotton plantations and
the vast land occupied for cotton plant cultivation, cheaper alternative fabrics from
cellulose such as viscose, Tencel and Modal (Shen et al. 2010) have been introduced
to the global market. Unlike cotton where the cellulose naturally grows into cellulose
fibers which are then carded and spun into long yarns that are then woven into fabrics,
man-made or semi-synthetic cellulosic fabrics are made from dissolved cellulose
extract from lignocellulosic plants, mainly wood which are then taking through the
wet fiber spinning process (Olatunji and Olsson 2016) to form cellulose fibers which
are then spun and woven into yarns and fabrics, respectively. Although having other
environmental concerns such as chemicals used in dissolving the fibers, production
of these man-made cellulose fibers requires less water in production and requires less
land space compared to cotton fibers. This could further be made more sustainable
by using cellulose from aquatic plants rather than land plant.
The process of producing cellulose-based fabrics from lignocellulosic plants
requires a variety of chemicals, and one of the most chemically and energydemanding stages is the lignin removal. Aquatic plants such as duckweed and water
hyacinth contain a considerable amount of cellulose, but little or no lignin duckweed,
for example, contains 12.2% (Yadav et al. 2017) while water hyacinth contains around
10% (Thiripura and Ramesh 2012).
Cladophora, a filamentous green algae, has mercerized cellulose structure
(Mihranyan 2010). This is a more amorphous, swollen form of cellulose. This makes
the cellulose adhere better to dye and have a glossier appearance. This property of
cellulose in algae presents some potential application in advanced textile technology
development.
Production of viscose fiber could consume as much as 110,000 kJ per tonne of
fiber produced from wood (Shen et al. 2010). An advancement in the man-made fiber
in the textile industry should aim at reducing the energy requirement for production
of such using aquatic sourced cellulosic fiber.
14 Cellulose
(where none is currently existing) and the demand for such production in the global
market.
14.7.1 Textile
The textile industry is one of the earliest and one of the largest in the world.
The textile industry formed the basis for the first industrial revolution. As
of 2008, 24,025,100 tonnes of cotton, 3,097,000 tonnes of cellulosic fibers,
361,590,800 tonnes of wool, 790,100 tonnes of flax and 558,400 tonnes of synthetic fibers were consumed globally (FAO 2011). There is an increasing demand for
more sustainable methods of fabric production. Aquatic plants are yet to be commercially explored for production of alternative cellulose-based fabrics on commercial
scale.
Cotton has been the main cellulose-based fiber in the textiles and garment industry.
In the past seven decades, for reasons such as yield, pest on cotton plantations and
the vast land occupied for cotton plant cultivation, cheaper alternative fabrics from
cellulose such as viscose, Tencel and Modal (Shen et al. 2010) have been introduced
to the global market. Unlike cotton where the cellulose naturally grows into cellulose
fibers which are then carded and spun into long yarns that are then woven into fabrics,
man-made or semi-synthetic cellulosic fabrics are made from dissolved cellulose
extract from lignocellulosic plants, mainly wood which are then taking through the
wet fiber spinning process (Olatunji and Olsson 2016) to form cellulose fibers which
are then spun and woven into yarns and fabrics, respectively. Although having other
environmental concerns such as chemicals used in dissolving the fibers, production
of these man-made cellulose fibers requires less water in production and requires less
land space compared to cotton fibers. This could further be made more sustainable
by using cellulose from aquatic plants rather than land plant.
The process of producing cellulose-based fabrics from lignocellulosic plants
requires a variety of chemicals, and one of the most chemically and energydemanding stages is the lignin removal. Aquatic plants such as duckweed and water
hyacinth contain a considerable amount of cellulose, but little or no lignin duckweed,
for example, contains 12.2% (Yadav et al. 2017) while water hyacinth contains around
10% (Thiripura and Ramesh 2012).
Cladophora, a filamentous green algae, has mercerized cellulose structure
(Mihranyan 2010). This is a more amorphous, swollen form of cellulose. This makes
the cellulose adhere better to dye and have a glossier appearance. This property of
cellulose in algae presents some potential application in advanced textile technology
development.
Production of viscose fiber could consume as much as 110,000 kJ per tonne of
fiber produced from wood (Shen et al. 2010). An advancement in the man-made fiber
in the textile industry should aim at reducing the energy requirement for production
of such using aquatic sourced cellulosic fiber.