SARVAJANIK COLLEGE OF

ENGINEERING AND
TECHNOLOGY

ECO-FRIENDLY BUILDING MATERIAL

FROM TEXTILE WASTE

Guided By:

Jigna S. Patel, Adhoc Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering Department.

Sarvajanik College of Engg. & Tech., Surat, Gujarat, India.

Prepared By:

Sachi H. Desai, Student, Chemical Engineering Department.

Sarvajanik College of Engg. & Tech., Surat, Gujarat, India.

Dhruti H. Koshiya, Student, Chemical Engineering Department.

Eco-friendly Building Materials From Textile WastePage 1

 Sarvajanik College of Engg. & Tech., Surat, Gujarat, India.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Though this report is the result of our own hardwork, it would have not reached to
absolute if some of the respected personalities would have not helped us. We are
very thankful & acknowledge our deep sense of gratitude to this personality .Prof.
Jigna S. Patel, we would like to thank her for her moral courage. She was the source
of encouragement and strengthened us in accomplishment of this report. She
taught us how to complete the task in a logical manner in order to express our ideas
effectively. She has been actively engaged in coaching us and has used her
valuable experience and time to guide us and provide valuable suggestion.

We are more than thankful to The Sarvajanik College of Engineering and Technology
for providing us the most advanced library sources. We are also thankful to our
batch mates to help us in every possible way.

Desai Sachi H.

Koshiya Dhruti H.

Eco-friendly Building Materials From Textile WastePage 2

Contents
1.Introduction
2.What is textile waste?
2.1 Identification, Classification and
Description Wastes from Textile Industry
3.Why to Recycle?
4.Utilization of Textile waste as Building Material
5.Textile mill Sludge as Fine Aggregate Concrete
6.References

Eco-friendly Building Materials From Textile WastePage 3

1. Introduction
Each day, millions of people around the world collect and recycle paper,
aluminium, glass and plastic products without a second thought. This has
been true for many years as a result of the educational efforts which began
with the first 'Earth Day' on April 22, 1970. Unfortunately, the first Earth Day
environmentalists did not include clothing and textiles as household
materials to be recycled.

In fact, clothing and textiles were being recycled long before those early
efforts to inform the public of the impact their actions had on the
environment. In 1970, there was a thriving clothing recycling industry, dating
back well before the turn of the 20th century. In addition to the for-profit
clothing recycling industry, charitable organizations were delivering their
message of "donate your gently used clothing items". [10]

The textile industry is the largest industry of modern India. It accounts for
over 20 percent of industrial production and is closely linked with the
agricultural and rural economy. It is the single largest employer in the
industrial sector employing about 38 million people. If employment in allied
sectors like ginning, agriculture, pressing, cotton trade, jute, etc. are added
then the total employment is estimated at 93 million. [7] The net foreign
exchange earnings in this sector are one of the highest and, together with
carpet and handicrafts, account for over 37 percent of total export earnings
at over US $ 10 billion. Textiles, 1 alone, account for about 25 percent of
Indias total foreign earnings. [1]

Eco-friendly Building Materials From Textile WastePage 4

2. What is textile waste?
Textile waste is a material that is deemed unusable for its original purpose by
the owner. Textile waste can include fashion and textile industry waste,
created during fiber, textile and clothing production, and consumer waste,
created during consumer use and disposal.[12]

2.1 Identification, Classification

and Description Wastes from
Textile Industry
The main environmental concern in the textile industry is about the amount
of water discharged and the chemical load it carries. Other important issues
are energy consumption, air emissions, solid wastes and odours, which can
be of significant nuisance in certain treatments. Air emissions are usually
collected at their origin point. As they have long been controlled in different
countries, there are good historical data on air emissions from specific
processes. This is not the case with emissions to water. First classification is
established with wastes to be considered in this project:

1.- Dangerous nature packaging wastes: This kind of wastes coming from the
exhaustion of the chemical auxiliars having dyes, laboratory chemical
reactives, etc.

2.- Non dangerous packaging wastes: coming from the packaging of raw
textile material of different nature (fibres, yarns, fabrics, pieces paper
packaging wastes (boxes, bags, cardboard).

3.- Non dangerous wastes: Textile wastes (retained on equipment filters,

raw material and fibres, yarn, woven, knitted, cut-offs, fly fibre and threads,
selvages, defective items). Sludge for water treatment. Printing toners.

Eco-friendly Building Materials From Textile WastePage 5

4.-Dangerous wastes: Grease and oil impregnated rags. Used oils.
Fluorescent tubes. Accidental leaks over sepiolite substratums.
Contaminated textile wastes with chemicals. Solvent wastes. Waste of
electric and electronic equipment (with metals). Batteries (equipment and
transport vehicles). Chemical wastes, dyes, print pastes. [3]

3. Why to Recycle?
To begin the effort to change the attitude of the public from 'donate' to
'recycle', when applied to clothing and textiles, the Secondary Materials and
Recycled Textiles Association (SMART) - the international trade association of
for- profit clothing and textile recycling companies - is undertaking a
nationwide educational effort. Working in conjunction with educators, the
association has developed lesson plans aimed at students aged five to 12. [2]

Help people in need - Clothing that can still be worn can be donated to
charity shops.

Reduce environmental pollution -Textiles that are thrown in the bin are sent
to landfill sites. Here, they can produce toxins which pollute the water we
drink and the air we breathe.

Save resources - Recycling wearable clothes lowers the amount of resources

that go into making new ones. If your unwanted pair of jeans goes on to be
worn by someone else, less land, water and fertilizer has to be used in cotton
growing. [4]

Save energy - It takes significantly less energy to produce new products from
Recycled textiles than it does from raw materials.

Increase your bedroom space - Sorting through your textiles and recycling
those you no longer want or need can create space and help you to keep
your room tidy.

Eco-friendly Building Materials From Textile WastePage 6

4. Utilization of textile waste as
building material
Textile waste cuttings are mixed with cement as binder to produce a unique
kind of composite material that looks like concrete but can be cut or nailed
like wood. It exhibits certain physical and mechanical properties indicating its
potential for low-cost lightweight construction.

The composite material is produced from a mixture of textile waste cuttings,

cement and water. Textile cuttings are taken from disposed trimmings of a
garments producer and a textile manufacturer. These are cut into average
lengths of 2 cm. and 6 cm., and mixed with portland cement in textile-
cement ratios of 1:3, 1:4, and 1:5 by weight. [5] Water is added in amounts
corresponding to water-cement ratios ranging from 0.53 to 0.85. The mix
combinations produce 18 mixtures and, with 3 specimens per mixture, a
total of 54 samples. [11]

Experimental blocks with dimensions of 9.5 cm. 14.5 cm. with a thickness
ranging from 1.3 to 2.0 cm. are fabricated and tested for flexure, 1.5 cm.
5.5 cm. 22.5 cm. blocks for tension, while cubes of 5 cm. 5 cm. 5 cm.
are used for compression tests. Samples are cured by submersion in water
for 8 days, and then tested at the age of 28 to 30 days. The tests are
conducted in accordance with standard ASTM procedures for testing concrete
products. [9]

Test data show that the effect of water-cement ratio and fiber-cement ratio
on the strength developed follows the behavior of concrete. However, unlike

Eco-friendly Building Materials From Textile WastePage 7

concrete, the samples tested for compression do not exhibit a sudden brittle
fracture even beyond the failure load, indicating its high energy-absorbing
capacity. Inspite of high flammability of the textile waste cuttings, the
composite material shows no evidence of burning when subjected to open
flame for 30 minutes.

The result of the laboratory test indicate a sturdy lighter-than-concrete

building material with various potential usesfor ceilings, walls, wooden
board substitute, or as an economical alternative concrete block.

5. Textile Mill Sludge as Fine

Aggregate Concrete

In India, the costs of construct ion material have increased four times in last
two decades. Further high transportation costs of raw materials are making
situation worser. Increasing demand and environmental restrictions,
necessities to the find functional substitutes for conventional building
materials in construction industry (Pappuetal, 2007). Based on charact
eristics of waste water from the textile industries coagulation and adsorption
treatments are common procedure.[6] Due to its chemical content sludge
generated during treatment is hazardous in nature (Senthilkumar etal, 2008).
The conventional methods of sludge disposal and treatment such as
composting, land filling etc has many drawbacks. According to Badur and
Choudhary (2008), the industrial hazardous wastes and byproducts can be
used as green concrete material through stabilization/solidification (S/S)
methods. The use of sludge as construction and building materials converts
the waste into useful products that can solve disposal problems. [6]

The textile processing consumes enormous quantity of water and chemicals

for various operations like washing, dyeing etc. The low efficiency of
chemical operations and spillage of chemicals cause a significant pollution

Eco-friendly Building Materials From Textile WastePage 8

hazards and make disposal of treated wastewater and sludge a complex
problem. The most of wastewater treatment plants presently adopt methods
of chemical precipitation and subsequent clarification. The textile waste
water is treated by coagulation i.e. by adding chemicals such as Alum, Ferric
chloride, Lime and polyelectrolytes. As a result, the clarifier produces sludge
which is dried in sludge drying beds. This dried sludge is basically chemical
in nature and hence no further biological treatment can be given to it. Thus
the disposal in Landfills is an ultimate option. The fly ash which is tail end by
product of a thermal power station is used in concrete. It is well known fact
now that the addition of fly ash in prescribed percentage improves
compressive strength of concrete. [8]

References
1. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm?
fuseaction=home.showFile&rep=file&fil=LIFE05_ENV_E_000285_LAYMA
N.pdf
2. http://www.isca.in/FAMILY_SCI/Archive/v3/i1/2.ISCA-RJFCCS-2015-
006.pdf
3. http://pdf.aigroup.asn.au/environment/14_Textiles_Waste_Reduction_Fa
ctsheet.pdf
4. http://www.t-pot.eu/docs/Workshops/STFI_09_Gulich_Recycling0212.pdf
5. http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/?page=32063206
6. http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/5433/waste-
management-in-textile-industry?page=1
7. https://www.google.co.in/#q=textile+waste+facts
8. https://globaljournals.org/GJRE_Volume12/3-Textile-Mill-Sludege-as-Fine-
Aggregate.pdf
9. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223866812_Utilization_of_tex
tile_waste_cuttings_as_building_material
10. http://scholar.google.co.in/scholar_url?
url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/092401369401672
N&hl=en&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm2EDdHESh3qxUNl7K9INohvLKBLMA&n

Eco-friendly Building Materials From Textile WastePage 9

 ossl=1&oi=scholarr&ved=0ahUKEwih-
IqKlbHLAhXLGo4KHeJDDqEQgAMIISgBMAA
11. http://waset.org/publications/10003128/a-review-on-recycled-
use-of-solid-wastes-in-building-materials
12. http://www.teonline.com/knowledge-centre/textile-recycling.html

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