A facile approach towards recycling of polyurethane coated PET fabrics†

The apparel industry widely uses polyurethane coated fabrics for their durability, comfort, style, and versatility. Due to the presence of multiple layers of polymers, recycling such fabrics results in low efficiency and poor yield; thus predominantly they are disposed of in landfills, resulting in severe environmental pollution. Herein we achieved a remarkably precise separation of the polyurethane (PU) coating as a neat film from the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabric through a surfactant-aided alkali treatment of the adhesive at room temperature. Furthermore, the dye from the fabric was continuously extracted through Soxhlet extraction resulting in 93% dye removal from the material. The PET fabric as obtained was hydrolyzed through an alkaline hydrolysis procedure with a maximum terephthalic acid (TPA) yield above 80% and purity above 90%. Dye removal from the fabric proved to be a crucial step in recycling PET fabrics as we found a notable reduction in the purity and yield of dyed PET fabrics. This work is the first to study the delamination of polymer coatings as neat films from PET fabrics commonly used in the apparel industry. It will provide useful insight and direction for recycling other such polymer-coated PET fabrics.