{"id":140451,"date":"2024-03-13T07:29:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T06:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=140451"},"modified":"2024-03-14T16:51:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T15:51:07","slug":"on-its-journey-to-make-clothing-that-leaves-no-trace-the-north-face-taps-the-bottle-consortium-to-scale-biodegradable-polyester-alternative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/on-its-journey-to-make-clothing-that-leaves-no-trace-the-north-face-taps-the-bottle-consortium-to-scale-biodegradable-polyester-alternative\/","title":{"rendered":"On its journey to make clothing that leaves no trace, The North Face taps the BOTTLE Consortium to scale biodegradable polyester alternative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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NREL Scientist Kat Knauer examines a waterproof, breathable textile using optical microscopy at The North Face\u2019s Denver, Colorado, laboratories. Photo by Julie Thompson<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

When worn, washed, and dried, clothing sheds\u2014dispersing tiny fibers throughout homes, soils, and waterways that can take centuries to degrade.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These fibers, often made of polyester and often too small to see, are a major\u2014if invisible\u2014source of microplastic pollution. By some estimates, fibers from polyester clothing account for nearly half of all microplastics in the natural environment, exacerbating a growing environmental and public health hazard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preventing clothes from shedding may be impractical, if not impossible. But according to National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) polymer scientist Katrina Knauer, a better solution is emerging that could address the challenge at its source: replace today\u2019s petroleum-derived polyester with a nontoxic, biodegradable alternative made from PHAs, short for \u201cpolyhydroxyalkanoates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cPHAs have been found to be very compatible with tissues in the human body as therapeutics,\u201d said Knauer, who is the chief technology officer of the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Bio-Optimized Technologies<\/strong> to keep Thermoplastics out of Landfills and the Environment (BOTTLE) consortium. \u201cPHAs can also break down naturally without a highly controlled, composting environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Already, BOTTLE scientists\u2014including a team from NREL and Colorado State University\u2014have developed a portfolio of PHAs with different properties, including some that behave like conventional polyester but are biobased, biodegradable, and easier to recycle.<\/p>\n\n\n

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BOTTLE has tailored the chemical backbone of PHA\u2014shown here before being spun into fiber\u2014to increase its mechanical toughness and make it chemically recyclable. Photo by Werner Slocum, NREL<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Now, in conjunction with The North Face, that team is bringing those sustainable materials into the outdoor apparel industry. Over the next 12 months, BOTTLE will scale the process to produce several pounds of PHA fiber, which The North Face will test and evaluate for use in its product lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BOTTLE Tailors PHAs for Textiles<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Just a few years ago, research was inconclusive on whether making textiles from PHA was possible. Early production methods worked by extracting PHA from a bacterial synthesis, many of which naturally produce the polymer as they digest plant-derived products like glucose and fatty acids. However noteworthy at the time, that method made it difficult for scientists to control the resulting backbone and properties of the PHA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of their mission to create more sustainable plastics<\/a>, BOTTLE scientists have since developed alternative techniques for turning succinic acid (made from glucose), and other biobased building blocks, into PHA via synthetic routes. Chemo-catalytic approaches allow the team to tailor PHA\u2019s chemical backbone to achieve key attributes, like melt-processability, crystallinity, and ductility. With the support of the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Bioenergy Technologies Office and Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Office, BOTTLE has reported PHA prototypes with a broad range of properties\u2014from rigid PHA polymers for clear food packaging to ductile varieties for spinning into fiber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re actually showing we can control the microstructure to get PHA to behave like polyester fibers and textiles,\u201d Knauer<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Unlike conventional polyester\u2014a petroleum-based textile that constitutes more than half of fabrics produced annually\u2014BOTTLE PHAs are also designed for recycling. At the end of a product\u2019s useful life, BOTTLE\u2019s chemical recycling technologies can deconstruct PHAs and other polymers back into chemical building blocks pure enough to reuse for making plastics of the highest quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Ravikumar Gowda, a BOTTLE researcher based at Colorado State University, the material\u2019s recyclability hinges on specific changes to PHA\u2019s chemical backbone. By replacing reactive hydrogen atoms with robust alkyl groups, Gowda and other CSU researchers significantly enhanced the thermal stability of PHA to make it melt processable\u2014a key advantage over PHAs derived from microbes. Importantly, the change also enables the team to deconstruct the polymer at will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cOur redesigned PHA structure substantially increases mechanical toughness and renders the new PHA chemically recyclable to its building-block monomer with a simple catalyst and heat,\u201d he said. \u201cThe recovered monomer can be reused to reproduce the same PHA again, in principle, infinitely.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Toward a Better Clothing Industry<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

BOTTLE\u2019s work with The North Face comes as concern is rising on the environmental footprint of making and wearing clothing. The textile production supply chain accounts for an estimated 8%\u201310% of global carbon dioxide emissions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this reason, the project prioritizes analysis to understand the energy and carbon intensity of making and recycling PHA fibers. The team will also simulate microfiber shedding and measure their rate of biodegradation in a variety of environmental scenarios. Together, these results will give The North Face a picture of PHA textile sustainability to compare to conventional polyester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe are committed to making the best-performing products while leaving an ever-smaller footprint on the planet,\u201d said Carol Shu, senior manager for global sustainability at The North Face<\/strong>. \u201cMaterials innovation is a pinnacle of our brand, and this project not only brings to life new possibilities for synthetic textiles but also supports our focus on enabling product circularity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

After reviewing BOTTLE\u2019s initial results, The North Face aims to test prototype fibers with its suppliers to evaluate for a line of more-sustainable products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For clothing that looks good, feels good, and performs in the most punishing outdoor conditions, the goal is to find the perfect PHA fiber to match, or even improve upon, the qualities consumers value most. Best of all, it should enable adventurers to scale mountains, run trails, and explore cities with the confidence they will leave no trace of microplastics in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When worn, washed, and dried, clothing sheds\u2014dispersing tiny fibers throughout homes, soils, and waterways that can take centuries to degrade. These fibers, often made of polyester and often too small to see, are a major\u2014if invisible\u2014source of microplastic pollution. By some estimates, fibers from polyester clothing account for nearly half of all microplastics in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":140468,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"BOTTLE researchers to determine whether novel PHA fibers are fit for outdoor apparel that is easy to recycle and limits long-term microplastic pollution","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[11270,5847,15301,10416,7105,7676,12468],"supplier":[16972,3135,24791,371,11341],"class_list":["post-140451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biodegradability","tag-bioplastics","tag-biopolyester","tag-circulareconomy","tag-packaging","tag-pha","tag-textiles","supplier-bottle-consortium","supplier-colorado-state-university","supplier-does-bioenergy-technologies-office-beto","supplier-national-renewable-energy-laboratory-nrel","supplier-the-north-face"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140451"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=140451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}