Method for treating textile waste and textile recycling line thereof

Abstract

The present invention concerns a method (700) for treating textile waste (990) such as to deliver fiber stock containing usable fiber for short staple spinning. Said method comprises a preparation (720, 730) of said waste textile, tearing (740) said prepared waste textile into teared fibers tufts, and / or forming said teared fibers tufts into batt feed. Said method comprises a mixing of said teared fibers tufts such as to produce a homogenized batt feed and a feeding of a carding machine (500) with said batt feed, wherein said batt feed is transferred to a card drum such as to open and parallelize the fibers of said batt feed by transferring said fibers of said batt feed to a card drum and a revolving flat. The method comprises a further fiber refining process in which the opened and parallelized fibers are transferred without blending together with virgin fibers to a combing process such as to sort and separate the dust, the shortest fibers (noil) and the longer fibers from each other.

Description

[0001] Method for treating textile waste and Textile recycling line thereof

[0002] Technical field of the invention

[0003] The subject matter described herein relates to the use of waste cotton material that can be used in forming other textile products. More particularly, the subject matter described herein relates to a method for treating textile waste for using recycled waste cotton material in producing a textile product and textiles products produced from such waste cotton material.

[0004] Technological background

[0005] Making textile accounts for around 10% of CO2 emissions from human activity. Up to 40% of cotton grown is wasted between the harvest and the manufacturing of garments and textiles. Despite the need for circularity in our use of resources, the textile industry in particular the clothing industry has been fed by a distinctly linear value chain. Secondhand clothing may be notoriously over-supplied, and while it might be resold, recycled into cloths or insulation, much of it may end up incinerated or in landfill.

[0006] By recycling cotton waste with a common mechanical textile recycling process, which may cut and may shred fabric scraps, not only can landfill space be conserved, but the amount of land, water, energy, pesticides, and human labor that goes into cotton production can be reduced.

[0007] However, mechanically recycled fibers may comprise a high short fiber content, ca. 40% to 80% by number, and / or a high number of neps, between 200 and 1400 for instance, and remaining yam pieces or even fabric pieces.

[0008] Summary of the invention

[0009] In order to achieve this objective, the present invention may provide, according to a aspect of the invention, a method for treating textile waste such as to deliver fiber stock containing usable fiber; said method comprising: - preparing said waste textile; and,

[0010] - tearing said prepared waste textile into teared fibers tufts; characterized in that said method comprise a mixing of said teared fibers tufts such as to produce a homogenized batt feed and a feeding of a flat carding machine with said batt feed, wherein said batt feed is transferred to a card drum such as to open and parallelize the fibers of said batt feed by transferring said fibers of said batt feed to a card drum and a revolving flat. A flat carding machine having a revolving flat may also be called a ‘flat card’.

[0011] Thus, the waste cotton fibers may be further opened, cleaned and aligned, which may be essential to enable impurities to be eliminated and the other operations to be performed like combing.

[0012] According to an embodiment, said preparing said waste textile comprises:

[0013] - cutting said waste textile into cut pieces of waste textile; and / or

[0014] - blending said waste textile or said cut pieces of waste textile.

[0015] Thus, the cutting and / or the blending may be used in creating specific blends of waste to create later different textile products. The blending may set out the amount of each category of waste that is added in an opening line to homogenize the moisture, to be blended together and / or to be processed to create one or more specific textile product for example.

[0016] According to an embodiment, said method comprises combing such as to select fibers with a predetermined length out of said parallelized fibers.

[0017] Thus, the combing machine may select fibers with a predetermined length out of said parallelized fibers.

[0018] In order to achieve this objective, the present invention may provide, according to an aspect of the invention, textile recycling line of textile waste for delivering fiber stock containing usable fiber; said textile recycling line implementing said method according to an aspect of the present invention and comprising at least one:

[0019] - Preparation machine; said at least one preparation machine is configured to prepare said waste textile;

[0020] - Tearing machine; said at least one Tearing machine is configured to tear said prepared waste textile into feared fibers tufts;

[0021] - Mixer; said mixer is configured to mix said feared fibers tufts such as to produce a homogenized batt feed; and,

[0022] - Carding machine; said carding machine being a flat card, is configured to open and parallelize the fibers.

[0023] Thus, the waste cotton fibers may be further opened, cleaned and aligned, which may be essential to enable impurities to be eliminated and the other operations to be performed like combing.

[0024] According to an embodiment, said at least one preparation machine comprises at least one cutting machine configured to cut said waste textile into cut pieces of waste textile and / or at least one blending machine configured to blend said waste textile or said cut pieces of waste textile.

[0025] Thus, the cutting and / or the blending may be used in creating specific blends of waste to create later different textile products. The blending may set out the amount of each category of waste that is added in an opening line to homogenize the moisture, to be blended together and / or to be processed to create one or more specific textile product for example.

[0026] According to an embodiment, said textile recycling line comprises a combing machine configured to select fibers with a predetermined length out of said parallelized fibers.

[0027] Thus, the combing machine may select fibers with a predetermined length out of said parallelized fibers. Brief description of the drawings

[0028] The foregoing and other purposes, features, aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments, given by way of illustration and not limitation with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which the same reference refer to similar elements or to elements having similar functions, and in which:

[0029] - Figure 1 represents a textile recycling line using a method for treating textile waste with a baler 410 and a bale opener 420 according to an aspect of the invention;

[0030] - Figure 2 illustrates a textile recycling line using a method for treating textile waste with a material store 430;

[0031] - Figure 3 shows a textile recycling line using a method for treating textile waste with a mixer 450; and,

[0032] - Figure 4 represents an embodiment, wherein further operations may be performed by a combing machine 520 and / or by a spinning machine 510.

[0033] In the figures and in the remainder of the description, the same references represent identical or similar elements. In addition, the various elements are not represented to scale so as to favor the clarity of the figures. Furthermore, the different embodiments and variants are not mutually exclusive and can be combined with one another.

[0034] Detailed description

[0035] The process 700 of the creating textiles from post-consumer waste cotton 990 can result in first quality yams produced from yams having cotton counts of about 30% or higher, that can be dyed and finished to any specification. The process 700 can incorporate the steps necessary to create finished garments and / or other textile products from waste cotton 990 material as it will be shown in the present description. These steps can include collecting cotton waste, sorting, and / or yam production, just to name few of them. As mentioned, the regeneration process 700 or mechanical recycling may include, at the beginning, a step of collecting 710 different categories of waste cotton 990 material based on different processing areas used in manufacturing cotton textile products for example.

[0036] Indeed, a process may be used that categorizes textile waste into different categories based on where the waste is collected for instance. For example, the waste can be classified into different categories based on the different processing areas from which it is collected. Each type of process from where the waste is collected can be a process that can be used in making cotton textiles from opening to fabric formation. The waste from each process generally possesses its own distinct properties. In at least one example, the waste can be categorized into more than 10 categories that each can represent a type of process from where the waste 990 is collected.

[0037] Examples of the categories of waste 990 may include opening waste, spinning waste fiber and yam, combing noils, woven and / or knitted waste fabric, or the like. For example, some categories of waste cotton 990 material may be processed through an extraction step, that may include running yarn and fabric waste cotton 990 through a garnett machine to separate the cotton material into its fiber form and to clean the cotton material to remove metal parts for example.

[0038] The waste from the different categories being used may be blended such as a specific yam, fabric, or garment, after a Pre-opening and / or a Moisture application. Thus, this blending may be used in creating specific blends of waste to create different textile products. The blending may set out the amount of each category of waste that is added in an opening line to homogenize the moisture, to be blended together and / or to be processed to create one or more specific textile product. In some embodiments the characteristics of the yam product to be produced may be quantifiable characteristics such as tensile strength, cover factor, shear, tear strength, or the like.

[0039] In some embodiments, the method 700, subject matter of the present invention, may comprise storing, categorizing and / or sorting waste fibers by analyzing the waste fiber similar to or even the same as would be done for virgin cotton in a usual spinning mill. For example, the stable length and / or strength of the waste fibers can be analyzed using similar techniques as would be used for virgin cotton. By analyzing and categorizing waste fibers, and thereby selecting the best fibers, finer and stronger yarns may be produced from waste and / or recycled fibers.

[0040] As depicted in Figs. 1 -3, the waste cotton 990 may pass through an preparation process 720 like a vertical opening that may use a vertical opener to clean and separate the fibers, and / or like a horizontal opener 200, or opening line, that may be different from a vertical opener in that it may have components that may contain cutting and ripping rollers as well as more traditional opening equipment such as beaters whereas vertical opener generally may have traditional opening equipment such as beaters and the like.

[0041] Indeed, a cutting system may comprise a cutting machine 200 and / or a textileshredder 200. At the beginning, the post-consumer waste cotton 990 may be disposed on a loader feeder 100 designed to feed said cutting machine 200. The post-consumer waste 990 may be drawn by said cutting machine towards its cutting chamber having a simple system with 1 or 2 rotary cutters and / or some rotary cutting with 2 or 4 flying knives and a feeding conveyor rolling for example. The post-consumer waste cotton 990 may be compressed on a feed apron and may be drawn towards the knives. Additionally, the post-consumer waste cotton 990 may be forwarded to said textile-shredder 200, which may comprise 2, 4, 6 or 8 rolls: number of rollers depending on raw material 990 composition, opening roller settings and target fiber quality.. The rollers may have different diameter with numerous needles on its surface responsible to rip and shred the rags. The rollers may rotate at high speed, and the number of needles may increase in with each roll, in order to shred completely the textile materials into pieces.

[0042] One advantage of said cutting system, it is ability to perform cleaning and separating of waste cotton material 990 that may still reside in an enhanced state, such as roving and / or yam. The preparation 720 of said waste textile may let the waste cotton 990 fibers pass through another opening that may additionally blend, open, and clean the waste cotton 990 fiber for example.

[0043] According to the textile scraps composition, the shredded fibers may turn to the industry by blankets, stuffing or may be conveyed to a blender, where the different pieces of the shredded post-consumer waste cotton 990 may be blended 730 in order to obtain a homogenized shredded post-consumer waste cotton 990.

[0044] The blender 300 may provide a tearing machine 400 with the homogenized cut waste. Said tearing machine 400 may comprise also a feeding station which receives said homogenized cut waste and may introduce the scraps into a tearing drum with points, which disintegrates the material. A tearing of the textiles may be done with the help of equipped rollers for example. The textiles may be mechanically stressed and feared 740 by a rotating movement. The fibers obtained in this way are then evacuated in the form of a fibrous cloth which constitutes a basic pure material, for diverse subsequent fabrications, for example, the waste cotton 990 fiber may then pass through a lap feed unit that may provide a uniform mat of fibers to a carding process 750 in which a card 500 further cleans and aligns the waste cotton 990 fibers being processed. Indeed, whereas the textile-shredder 400 may only open the textile scraps composition into shredded fibers, the individual fibers still not completely open and they may have a lot of neps, tick places and / or shorter length than primary fibers.

[0045] More precisely, the textile recycling line 600 according to an embodiment of the present invention may comprises an automatic feeding station, which may comprise a vertical stack and may be connected to several tearing machines 400. At the exit, an evacuation station may put out a fibrous cloth, homogeneous at one and the same time in thickness and in density upon the entire width of the machine.

[0046] In the interior, the stack may comprise two partitions or walls, between which pneumatic transport piping may pour scraps for opening. One of the walls may be perforated, so that it may let the air from the pneumatic transport escape, under the suction of an extractor.

[0047] Due to this arrangement, the fibers and scraps which may fall on a feeding conveyor may form an approximately uniform cloth on the entire width of the machine. They may be forwarded toward the drum with points or teeth in a first tearing machine 400. Then, the cloth may ends up, in the known manner, between a feeding roller, and a reserve trough. This trough may be formed of a one-piece structure on the entire width of the machine, in a divided form, that is, constituted by placing several pedals or treadles of the same shape side-by-side.

[0048] After fibers may be opened by the points of the rotary drum, fixed but adjustable deflecting sheet metal may separate the material in two streams: the first stream comprising light textile fibers adequately open may flow further to a mixer 450, and the other stream comprising solid scraps and / or scraps insufficiently open may be, by a suction, returned at the upper part of the feeding station.

[0049] Said feared fibers tufts may be pressed by a baler 410 to form a bale 992, before said bale 992 may be delivered to a bale opener 420, said mixer 450 and / or said carding machine 500, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

[0050] Alternatively, the first stream of said feared fibers tufts may be introduced into the mixer 450, as shown in Fig. 2 & 3, through the fiber material inlet 451 in the form of a feared fibers tufts-air mixture, and is guided through a distribution duct over the chutes, also called chambers to a transport air outlet 452. The mixer 450 may comprise a material store 430, like UNIstore A 79 430 represented in Fig. 2.

[0051] In Fig. 3, The mixer 450 may comprise a compact mixing machine like a UNImix B 72 450, configured to blend and to store said feared fibers tufts by having a plurality of chutes 455 or stores 455 that may be situated between a fiber flock inlet 451 and a fiber flock outlet 453 and / or said mixer 450 may serve as buffer or storage 430 between said tearing machines 400 and / or a carding machine 500. The feared fibers tufts may be distributed at random in thin layers across the different chambers 455 of said mixer 450. The feared fibers tufts may be then deflected through 90°, which may cause the layers to shift spatially and temporally and may define long-term blend. A spiked lattice may remove said feared fibers tufts from all different chambers at the same time. This gentle opening process may result in a second, random, mixing of said feared fibers tufts: The blend may be already uniform at this stage. Eventually, said feared fibers tufts may undergo a third intensive mixing process in the mixing roller zone and this additional mixing process may further improve the fiber mixing, before said feared fibers tufts may be delivered to said carding machine 500. As shown in figure 3, the waste cotton 990 fibers may enter in said carding machine 500, sometimes also referred to as flat card 500, or before entering in said flat carding machine 500, in a roller card. The waste cotton fibers 990 may be transferred by the feed device, comprising a feed trough and a feed roller, to an opening roller, which further may open, clean and align the waste cotton fibers 990, which may be essential to enable impurities to be eliminated by removing remaining yam and / or fabric pieces, to reduce neps and / or dust and which may be essential to enable further operations to be performed by a combing machine 520 and / or by a spinning machine 510 as shown in Fig. 4.

[0052] A blow-in device may be provided in the feed chute for the further compaction of the batt. Said blow-in device may blow more air into the lower chute and thereby may compact the waste cotton 990 fibers to form a batt having a greater batt weight. The air that may be blown in by means of the blow-in device may flow through the fiber tufts. This air flow may exit the chute through the air-permeable region of the wall of the lower chute and may be fed back to the blow-in device. A ventilator, for example, is suitable for use as the blowin device. The ventilator may circulate the air. The pressure generated by the ventilator in the lower chute may be dependent on the air-permeability of the waste cotton 990 fibers and the open cross-section of the wall of the lower chute. The trash that may become deposited is removed from the channel system by means of the suction for example.

[0053] A second feed device may ultimately feed the waste cotton 990 fibers, which may be now in the form of a homogeneous batt feed, via a feed line to the licker-in module of the card. This is how the card may reduce the neps and / or the tick places to a small fraction, which is really important for the spinning machine, by opening them out and not by eliminating them as it may be often falsely assumed.

[0054] The batt feed may be carried out at an infeed speed. The licker-in modules may open the waste cotton fibers 990 of the batt feed even further and simultaneously may remove a portion of the impurities. The last licker-in roller subsequently may transfer the fibers to the card drum which may completely open and parallelize the fibers. To this end, the card drum may interact with the cover unit. After at least a portion of the fibers may have completed several revolutions on the card drum, said waste cotton 990 fibers may be removed by the take-off roller, may be fed to a sliver-forming unit, and may be ultimately deposited into a can in the form of a card sliver, in the form of bales 992, mats or belts for example.

[0055] In this connection, the card sliver may exit the sliver-forming unit at the outfeed speed, and a disk roller pair for measuring the sliver weight may be disposed at the outlet of the sliver-forming unit. This sliver made of waste cotton fiber 990 may be fed along with other cotton waste material such as opening waste and other fiber waste into another flat carding machine 500, for a spinning machine 510 and / or into a combing machine 520, as represented in Fig. 4, such as to select fibers with a predetermined length out of said parallelized fibers. According to an embodiment, the sliver may be pressed and form a bale 992 for further processing.

[0056] Indeed said combing machine 520 may remove the short fibers, the dust and / or reduce the neps. Alternatively or additionally, the sliver or batt feeding may be for further processing. For some reasons, the sliver made of waste cotton 990 fiber may be mix with said prepared waste textile in order to be shredded, blended and / or carded again, or the sliver made of waste cotton fiber 990 may also be pressed in order to form a bale 992 and / or may be delivered in a spinning mill and be fed into a blender of a blow room by means of a pneumatic conveyor for instance.

Claims

Claims1. Method (700) for treating textile waste (990) such as to deliver fiber stock containing usable fiber; said method comprising:- Preparing (720, 730) said waste textile; and,- Tearing (740) said prepared waste textile into feared fibers tufts; characterized in that said method comprises a mixing of said feared fibers tufts such as to produce a homogenized batt feed and a feeding of a carding machine (500) with said batt feed, wherein said batt feed is transferred to a card drum such as to open and parallelize the fibers of said batt feed by transferring said fibers of said batt feed to a card drum and a revolving flat.

2. Method according to claim 1 , wherein said mixing comprises:- blending said feared fibers tufts;- storing of said feared fibers tufts, preferably between said tearing (740) and said feeding of a carding machine (500);- forming a bale (992) by pressing said feared fibers tufts; and / or- removing said feared fibers tufts from said bale (992).

3. Method according to claim 2, wherein said storing stores said feared fibers tufts in a plurality of chutes (455) or stores (455) of a material store (430).

4. Method according to claim 2 or 3, said removing removes a layer of said feared fibers tufts from said bale (992) such as to homogenize spatially and temporally said batt feed.

5. Method according to claim 1 , wherein said preparing said waste textile comprises:- Cutting (720) said waste textile into cut pieces of waste textile; and / or- Blending (730) said waste textile or said cut pieces of waste textile.

6. Method according to claim 1 , which comprises combing such as to select fibers with a predetermined length out of said parallelized fibers.

7. Textile recycling line (600) for treating textile waste (990) such as to deliver fiber stock containing usable fiber; said textile recycling line (600) implementing said method according to any of the preceding claims 1 to 3 and comprising at least one:- Preparation machine (100, 200, 300); said at least one preparation machine being configured to prepare said textile waste (990);- Tearing machine (400); said at least one tearing machine (400) being configured to tear said prepared textile waste (990) into feared fibers tufts;- Mixer (450); said mixer (450) is configured to mix said feared fibers tufts such as to produce a homogenized batt feed; and,- Carding machine (500); said carding machine (500) is configured to open and parallelize the fibers.

8. Textile recycling line (600) according to claim 7, wherein said mixer (450) comprises:- a mixing machine (450); said mixing machine being configured to blend and to store said feared fibers tufts;- a material store (430); said material store (430) being configured to store said feared fibers tufts, preferably between said at least one tearing machine (400) and said carding machine (500);- a baler (410); said baler (410) being configured to form a bale (992) by pressing said feared fibers tufts; and / or- a bale opener (420); said bale opener (420) being configured to remove said feared fibers tufts from said bale (992).

9. Textile recycling line (600) according to claim 8, wherein said material store (430) is configured to store said feared fibers tufts in a plurality of chutes (455) or stores (455).

10. Textile recycling line (600) according to claim 8 or 9, said bale opener (420) is configured to remove a layer of said feared fibers tufts from said bale (992) such as to homogenize spatially and temporally said batt feed.

11. Textile recycling line (600) according to claim 7, wherein said at least one preparation machine comprises at least one cutting machine (200) configured to cut said waste textile into cut pieces of waste textile and / or at least one blending machine (300) configured to blend said waste textile or said cut pieces of waste textile.

12. Textile recycling line (600) according to claim 7, which comprises a combing machine configured to select fibers with a predetermined length out of said parallelized fibers.

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