GRETE revolutionises sustainable textile fibres

The CBE JU-funded GRETE project has revolutionised how textile fibres can be made from wood residues.

The fashion industry has a sustainability problem. Not only is the ‘fast fashion’ trend for cheap clothing responsible for nearly 10 % of all global carbon emissions, cotton, the main raw material used by the industry, has a substantial environmental footprint.

While cotton is a renewable resource, cultivating it requires irrigation water, arable land and the use of fertilisers and pesticides. Furthermore, a growing population and climate change are making it increasingly difficult to grow enough cotton to meet demand.

As a result, there is a critical need for sustainable textile fibres, including those made from wood.

Helping answer this need is the GRETE project, which received funding from the Circular Bio-Based Europe Joint Undertaking, a public-private partnership between the EU and industry.

The GRETE project aims to improve existing wood-to-textile value chains by developing breakthrough technologies that open up existing bottlenecks.

Stina Grönqvist, GRETE project coordinator

"The GRETE project aims to improve existing wood-to-textile value chains by developing breakthrough technologies that open up existing bottlenecks and enable increased production of wood-based textile fibres in Europe," says Stina Grönqvist, research team leader and project manager at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

A safe approach to processing

One of those bottlenecks is the fact that producing wood-based textile fibres currently involves the use of toxic and explosive chemicals for processing. Here, the project developed novel chemicals called ionic liquid (IL) that can increase the safety, sustainability and economic viability of wood-based textile fibre production.

'The target was to find ILs that can be synthesised economically from inexpensive and available starting materials and that can be safely used in the wood-to-textile value chain,' explains Grönqvist.

Not only do the GRETE ILs offer good properties for spinning textile fibres, they are also stable enough to be recycled after use – an important characteristic for their eventual commercialisation.

Water-scarce finishing treatments

Another challenge addressed by the project was the fact that textile fibre finishing treatments, such as fibre dyeing, generate a lot of polluted wastewater. 'We developed innovative fibre modifications that can enable water-scarce finishing treatments and dyeing,' adds Grönqvist.

Other key outcomes of the project include adapting technologies to make textiles from pulp that is traditionally used to make paper. Researchers also created fibres that can efficiently absorb dye colours and used bio-based chemicals to make textiles fire-resistant.

Reducing the environmental footprint of textiles

Using these methods, the project successfully made textile fibres from paper-grade pulp from Finland and Portugal. It also demonstrated that obtaining fibres with good tenacity is possible without sacrificing elongation. 'I think it is safe to say that GRETE has revolutionised the thinking on how textile fibres can be made from wood residues,' remarks Grönqvist.

By adopting these novel techniques, the textile industry can significantly reduce its environmental impact and become more sustainable.

Stina Grönqvist, GRETE project coordinator

Perhaps most importantly, researchers showed that using paper-grade wood pulp for textile fibre production can lower environmental impact and reduce production steps in the wood-to-textile value chain.

"By adopting these novel techniques, the textile industry can significantly reduce its environmental impact and become more sustainable," concludes Grönqvist.