Researchers at the UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre have published new findings demonstrating how textile and other waste streams can be transformed into activated carbon for essential purification and filtration applications.
The study, published by Elsevier, reveals that waste textiles can be converted into high-performance activated carbon, offering significant sustainability advantages over conventional coal-derived production methods. Activated carbon is a critical material used globally in water, air, gas, food and beverage purification, as well as a wide range of industrial applications.
The research builds on earlier SMaRT Centre work that successfully produced activated carbon from end-of-life cotton products, automotive shredder residue, waste coffee grounds and plastics from flexible printed circuit boards. The latest findings further strengthen the case for diverting difficult-to-recycle materials from landfill into high-value industrial feedstock.
SMaRT Centre director Professor Veena Sahajwalla said the research demonstrated a viable pathway to address the growing global textile waste challenge while reducing environmental impacts.
“We show it is very possible to not only help ameliorate the growing waste textiles problem being experienced globally, but to reform this waste stream usually destined for landfill into highly valued activated carbon materials that can be used in many purifications systems, such as for water, air, gas, food and beverage, as well as for numerous other crucial industrial applications,” she said.
“The research was able to demonstrate a 36% reduction in embodied carbon and over 99% reduction in embodied energy demand relative to conventional coal-derived activated carbon, which has been an essential material created the world over for a wide variety of important and critical purifications systems.”
The study investigated 14 common textile types, including cotton, polyester, wool, nylon and blended fabrics, using a thermal transformation process that minimises the need for complex material sorting. Results showed that 11 of the 14 textile types were suitable for activated carbon production, with tunable properties tailored to specific purification applications.
A comprehensive lifecycle assessment found textile-derived activated carbon outperformed conventional coal-based alternatives across seven environmental impact categories, including global warming potential, fossil fuel depletion and respiratory effects.
Conducted through SMaRT’s Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Research Hub into Microrecycling, the research supports the development of scalable microrecycling technologies aimed at creating a circular economy by transforming hard-to-recycle waste into valuable materials.
