Investigation of working bodies of cotton cleaning machine

The article included information on how to improve the working bodies of the machine for cleaning raw cotton, including large waste mixtures waste disposal sites. Based on the analysis of the design of cotton ginning machines and working bodies, a new effective design scheme of cotton gin from large contaminants was developed. The recommended multi-faceted columns are characterized by good cleaning of cotton waste and maintenance of fiber quality.

Exergy Footprint Assessment of Cotton Textile Recycling to Polyethylene

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.

A Novel Application of Cellulose Aerogel Composites From Pineapple Leaf Fibers And Cotton Waste: Removal of Dyes and Oil In Wastewater

In a world where demands for freshwater are ever-growing, wastewater remediation becomes a global concern. Especially, water, which is contaminated by oil, dyes, poses challenges to the management of water resources. The development of innovative processes for wastewater treatment is still a major obstacle. With regard to its fast removal rate and environmental compatibility, cellulose aerogel composites are recently considered as a potential contributor for water remediation. In this study, cellulose aerogel composites are fabricated using the sol-gel method from two-agroindustrial wastes: pineapple leaf fibers and cotton waste fibers in alkali-urea solution followed by freeze-drying. The prepared cellulose aerogel composites are extremely lightweight with a low density (0.053−0.069 g.cm−3) and high porosity of nearly 95%. It is worth noting that the mechanical strength of the cellulose aerogel composites is remarkably improved with their Young’s modulus increasing by 5-9 times compared to that of the previous aerogel composites using polyvinyl alcohol as a binder. The as-synthesized aerogel composites are directly applied to adsorb cationic methylene blue and exhibit a maximum adsorption uptake of 34.01 g.g-1. The methyltrimethoxysilane-coated cellulose aerogel composites also show their ability to deal with oil pollution with a maximum oil adsorption capacity of 15.8 g.g−1 within only 20 sec. Besides the oil removal, our developed cellulose aerogel composites have demonstrated their capability in treating dye-contaminated wastewater for the first time based on their evidenced ability to eliminate methylene blue.

Historical and Current Perspective of Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) Cultivation in South Korea

We review edible mushrooms in South Korea, primarily focused on oyster mushroom (OM) (Pleurotus ostreatus), which shows the highest production among the mushrooms grown for industrial purposes, and it takes up almost 32% of the total production. We aimed to describe their historical uses, common cultivars, and specific characteristics that make them one of the most viable food sources or functional materials. About 15,000 mushroom varieties are known, and 2,000 varieties are possible as human food. Generally, OM has long been studied the most widely as an edible mushroom compared to the other mushrooms in South Korea. Recently, there has been a growing interest in food mushrooms as the production of O.M. is characterized by low greenhouse gas emissions compared to animal breeding in South Korea. Also, OM is often highlighted as nutritious side dishes to serve with rice. Thus, facilitating O.M. production and consumption could contribute to human health and environmental conservation in the near future. Over the years 2015–2020, Pleurotus sajor (PS) export increased by 189.9% (US$ 130,000) compared to 2010-2015. The O.M. cultivation tends to increase rapidly in developing countries for human food and compost or insect foods after cultivation, for example, internal use of culture media or sawdust dump of willow growing environmental conditions. In South Korea, mushroom research has started in the 1960s by the horticultural research center of Rural Development of Administration. In the early 1970s, OM cultivation methods using paddy straw were first developed globally. In 1974, NONGGI-2-1-ho cultivar was developed. In 1976, various practices for water management, disinfection, and fermentation were developed, resulting in substantial yield increases. From 1986, labor-saving paddy straw binders, cutting machines, disinfection boilers, wager suppliers were produced and started being supplied to the farmers. In the 1980s, cotton waste was used as a substrate for cultivation of OM, where water content was identified as the dominant controlling factor for yields. Cotton waste is the best substrate material for summer OM. After using cotton waste, it is commonly replaced with paddy straw. Recently, growers use poplar sawdust, oak sawdust, and rice bran mixed at a ratio of 40:40:20 (v/v/v) instead of cotton waste. When adjusting the nutrients of a medium, the nitrogen content is the crucial factor in determining the yield of OM. There is an additional attempt to add functionality by using alternative plant materials, such as Hovenia dulcis known for liver protection and anti-cancer effects, as well as Acer tegmeutosum and Rhus verniciflura. Further research is in progress to search for and new medium materials effective for OM cultivation.

Microcrystalline Cellulose Generation from Laboratory Cotton Waste and Conventional Characterizations

Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) is a green material that has widespread applications in pharmaceuticals, food, cosmetics, and other industries owing to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, hydrophilicity, and acid-insolubility. Therefore, this study presented a simple, fast, and cost-effective approach for preparing MCC from laboratory cotton via alkaline treatment and sulfuric acid hydrolysis. Further, the synthesized cotton-based MCC was characterized using FTIR, XPS, and EDX. Based on these results, the major components were identified as carbon and oxygen. This finding was evidenced by the FTIR analysis, which displayed peak wavelength at 3446.94 cm− 1, 2891.11 cm− 1, 1649.50 cm− 1, 1380.1 cm− 1, 1061.19 cm− 1, and 1050–1150 cm− 1. The surface morphology was also examined by FESEM and FETEM, which showed that the prepared MCC has a smooth surface and a consistent, rod-like shape. In addition, the MCC exhibited the typical diffraction peaks of a crystalline structure of cellulose II at 12.2°, 20°, and 22.03°, which correspond to the diffraction planes of 1–10, 110, and 020, respectively, and had a crystallinity index of 78.7%. Moreover, the prepared MCC had a diameter of 37.80 µm and exhibited good stability with a peak at -76.51 mV. Further, the cotton-based MCC exhibited high thermal stability, as revealed by the TGA.