Industrial Crops and Products 87 (2016) 2732

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Industrial Crops and Products

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop

Value-added waste cotton yarn: Optimization of recycling process

and spinning of reclaimed bers
Bchir Wanassi a, , Bchir Azzouz a , Mohamed Ben Hassen a,b
a
b

Textile Laboratory Engeneering LGTex, University of Monastir, 5078 Ksar Hellal, Tunisia
College of Engineering, Industrial Engineering Department, Taiba University, Saudi Arabia

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 29 December 2015
Received in revised form 5 March 2016
Accepted 4 April 2016
Keywords:
Blend yarn
Cotton wastes
DENIM waste
DOE
Mechanical recycling

a b s t r a c t
In the spinning industry, waste yarns are generally forsaken or sale at low prices. The main purpose of
this study is to give an added value to this waste and produce a new low cost yarn based on recycled yarn
bers. The rst part of this study investigated the effect of the raw material and the recycling process
taking into account the cut length (L) and the passage number (N) on the nal quality of reclaimed bers.
The effect of different factors on the count of Neps (Neps), mean length (L), short ber content (SFC), Upper
Quartile Length (UQL), and weight yield (R) were examined by using design of experimental method. In the
second part of this work, the highest quality bers (Neps = 260Cnt/g, SFC = 26%, UQL = 23.9 mm, L = 18 mm
and R = 61.20%) were selected for this project. They were spun with a ratio cotton/recycling cotton 50/50
into a three account (Ne 10, Ne 15 and Ne 20). Comparing with the 100% cotton yarn, the blended yarn
has similar physical and mechanical properties and it has a lower cost yarn since we can increase the
total value of the yarn more than 33.5%.
2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In recent years, the global annual textile ber production
exceeded 82 million tons, of which around 40% consisted of cellulosic materials (Andreas, 2012). Cotton with production of more
than 27 million tons per year stands for about 1/3 of the market
(Andreas, 2012). Rapid development and higher production capacity of cotton textile industries resulted in higher output of waste
cotton bers. Hence, in the context of economic issues and environmental protection, there is growing interest in developing recycling
processes to produce valuable products from waste cotton bers,
(Meyabadi and Dadashian, 2012). The greater part of cotton wastes
is abandoned in all countries over the world (Hani and Orhan,
2015).
Among the major sources of textile waste, is the municipal waste
(Anne et al., 2006). The concept and practice of recycling bers has
been a well-established part of the textile industry since the rst
industrial revolution (Richard, 2000). Recycling of textile waste is
a mindset and a culture that needs to be shared between industry
and the public.

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: wanassi b@yahoo.fr (B. Wanassi).
URL: http://null (B. Wanassi).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2016.04.020
0926-6690/ 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A lot of research work has been focused on the study of

textile waste. This work was divided into two parts: the reclaiming of waste and its characterization. Jeihanipour et al. (2010);
Jeihanipour and Taherzadeh. (2009), and Kuo et al. (2010) considers
that the cotton-based waste textiles can be regarded as an alternative renewable biomass source for rening bio-ethanol, biogas
or other bio-based products via various pretreatments and subsequent biological processes. Usarat et al. (2012) was successfully
transformed a waste cotton fabric into modied cellulose by etherication using different types of fatty acid chloride. Wang (2010)
consider only few parts of waste textile can be recycled, due to their
complex component, and most of them have one of two destinations: disposed of in landlls or subjected to incineration.
Blending of different bers is a very common practice in the
spinning industries. The blending is primarily done to enhance the
cost of raw material. The properties of blended yarns depend on
the properties of the constituent bers (Hamburger, 1949; Halimi
et al., 2007).
The objective of this present study was to nd the appropriate process to reclaim a good quality of ber before mechanical
recycling of cotton waste yarn. The quality of reclaimed ber will
be identied according to ber length parameters and the yield of
weight. The bers with the best quality will be selected for spinning a blend yarn with a ration of 50:50 recycling cotton/cotton.

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B. Wanassi et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 87 (2016) 2732

Table 1
Mechanical properties of waste yarn.
Property

Value

Unit

yarns count
the breaking force
elongation at break

82
13.34
5.96

Tex
N
%

Table 2
Levels factors.
Factors

Level 1 Level 2

Length of cut waste yarn (L)

5 cm
The number of passing the material (N) 1

10 cm
2

Level 3 Level 4

Table 3
Design matrix and experiment design.
Coded
variable

Real
variables

Respense

X1

X2

X1 X2

Neps[Cnt/g]

SFC[%] UQL[mm] L[mm] R%

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L

N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N

5
10

5
10

5
10

5
10

302
274
467
285
260
409
345
319
293
629
401
264

35.6
27.7
48.1
31.4
26.7
46.2
42.7
45.0
26.4
48.6
45.2
25.8

1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3

1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
4
4
4

1pass
1pass
1pass
2pass
2pass
2pass
3pass
3pass
3pass
4pass
4pass
4pass

18.5
23.3
19.9
17.3
23.9
20.6
18.9
18.9
23.8
21.7
18.6
24.5

12.9
17.6
14.2
13.5
18.0
15.6
14.3
14.1
17.9
15.2
13.1
18.1

42.60
22.10
87.60
45.30
61.20
90.10
71.76
80.00
48.30
85.70
88.60
79.10

The physical and mechanical properties and the cost of blended

yarn were compared with properties of 100% cotton yarns.
2. Materials and methods
The yarns wastes used in this study were the dyed yarns wastes
of Society of Textile Industries (SITEX) which is a textile company
from Tunisia. The mechanical properties of the waste yarn are indicated in Table 1 and the process used to produce this yarn was
showing in Fig. 1.
All tests in this study are conducted in the laboratory of SITEX
Company while respecting ISO 139 standard. This standard describe
the conditions of ambient that are 20 2C and 65% 4% air relative
humidity (Gourlot et al., 2006). 24 h of conditioning of the material
is carried out before each test.
2.1. Mechanical recycling machine
The machine used to recycling a waste of yarn is a Shirley Analyzer (Fig. 2). The operating principle of machine is as follow: The
waste of yarns are placed on Table (1), then supplied to the taker-in
(4) (lled with saw tooth) via two feed-roller (2) and (7). The ow
of recycled ber is projected onto a perforated Take-off (5).
The ow of the bers is enhanced by an air stream whose speed
is a function of the position of the adjustable knife (8) and the degree
of sealing of the cover (3). The recycling ber recovery is done from
the box (6).
The machine settings were: Feed roller speed was 0.9 revolution/min, Taker-in speed was 700 revolutions/min, Perforated
take-off speed was 300 revolutions/min, the distance between feed
roller and taker-in was 0.7 mm and between separating edge and
taker-in was 0.19 mm.

Fig. 1. A process to produce a DENIM yarns.

2.2. Recycled bers testing

In this study, Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) from
Uster Technologies was used to measure ber length distribution.
The AFIS provides a variety of length parameters: mean length by
number L(n), and by weight L(w), upper quartile length by weight
UQL(w), length CV% by weight and by number, short ber content by weight SFC(w)% and by number SFC(n)%, and length upper
percentiles by number L(n) 2.5% and L(n) 5%.

B. Wanassi et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 87 (2016) 2732

29

Fig. 2. Recycling machine.

Table 4
Spinning parameters and setting.
Spinning parameters

Value setting

Unit

Rotor speed
Twist factor
Rotor type
Opening roller speed

52.5
160
T40
8800

Tr/min

Tr/min

Fig. 3. (a) State of the material after recycling. (b) Fibres Q1, (c) cutting yarns Q2.

2.2.1. Mean length (L)

Fibber length is an important attribute to determine the quality
of cotton: it is important to the spinner because it is highly related to
process and the quality of the yarns produced. Longer bers are generally ner and stronger than shorter ones (Charles and Frederick,
1993). The mean length by weight L(w) is obtained by summing
the product of ber length and its weight, then dividing by the total
weight of the bers.

2.2.5. Design of experiment (DoE) method

A preliminary study and consultation opinions spinners experts
show that the factors: length of cut waste yarn (L) and the number of passing the material (N), were inuential on the quality of
recycled bers. Table 2 show the levels of each factor considered in
DoE. Therefore, L12 orthogonal array (Table 3) was selected for the
experimentation and each experiment was performed three times
and average in each experiment was considered as the response
variable.

2.2.2. Upper quartile length (UQL)

The upper quartile length by weight UQL(w) is dened as the
length that exceeded by 25% of bers by weight.
2.2.3. Short ber content (SFC%)
The concept of short ber content (SFC) has been widely
acknowledged as an extremely important ber length characteristic because of its critical implications in yarn manufacture and
properties (Backe, 1986). SFC(w) % is the percentage by weight of
bers less than one half inch (12.7 mm).

2.3. Yarn testing

Open-End yarns of count Ne10, Ne15 and Ne20 were spun
in a spinning mill from 100% cotton yarn and 50:50 virgin cotton/recycling cotton.
The processing steps and machinery used are shown in
(Fig. 4).The blend was processed after carding at the rst passage in
the drawing frame. Another passage was used in order to improve
the homogeneity of the blend. Slivers were used to produce yarns
on a Schlafhorst Autocoro rotor spinning machine. Spinning parameters are given in (Table 4).
Tensile properties of produced yarns were evaluated for single
end yarn strength on the high-speed tensile Uster Tensojet using
standard test methods ASTM D76. Classifying and counting faults
in yarn determined using standard test method (ASTM D6197) to
determine mass coefcient of variation (CV) of yarn width and Neps
imperfections (280+) per 1000 m evenness on the USTER TESTER 5S800 instrument.

2.2.4. Weight yield of bers (R%)

Recycling of waste yarn through the Shirley device, gives a mixture between recycled bers and cut yarn (Fig. 3). The yield by
weight of bers (R%) is dened as the percentage of recycled bers
recovered after recycling. The yield by weight of bers is expressed
by the following relationship:
R% =

MQ 1
100
MQ 1 + MQ 2

(1)

MQ1 is the weight of bers and MQ2 is the weight of cutting yarns.
In this study we will look to characterize the ber quality Q1.
Table 5
Unevenness and imperfections of yarns.
Yarn count Blend
10
15
20

U(%)

cotton
8.2
Cotton-recycling cotton 9.7

CVm (%) Thinness 30%/Km Thinness 50%/Km

Thickness 30%/Km Thickness 50%/Km Neps + 200%/Km

12.33

968

0
0

306

2
30

2
9

cotton
9.4
Cotton-recycling cotton 10.13

12.91

1283

0
0

463

4
40

4
2

cotton
12.3
Cotton-recycling cotton 13.86

18.01

3681

0
17

2357

4
749

12
536

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B. Wanassi et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 87 (2016) 2732

Fig. 4. Sequence of Operations for Producing Blend of Cotton/Recycling Cotton ber.

3. Results and discussions

3.1. Fibers results
It can be seen in the main effect plot (Fig. 5) that the factor N
(number of passing) has an increasing effect on the quality of recycled bers as well as the yield of weight. Indeed, if the number of
passes increases, the mean length L(w) of the bers and the UQL(w)
increases. The number of passing favors the development of the
Neps rate and the shorts bers content increases. The weight yield
of ber increases if the number of passes N increases. This phenomenon is explained by the aggressive mechanical action of saw
teeth that generates a break at bers (Fig. 6).
Neps are small ber entanglements that are formed, according
to results founded by Mangialardi (1986), during cultivation, harvesting, and ginning. However, in this study Neps is due to recycling
phenomena via the aggressive action of the saw tooth breaker.
We note that if the mechanical action on the bers increases, by
multiplying the passage number (N), the rates of Neps increase.
One of the biggest concerns relative to the global marketing
of cotton is the perception by international spinners that it contains excessive amounts of short ber (i.e., ber < in (12.7 mm) in
length). Zeidman et al. (1991) reported on short ber, content in
commercial cotton, showed a statistically signicant inuence on
ends-down in spinning. Cutting yarn before the rst passage has a
signicant effect on the variation of the SFC (Fig. 5). Indeed, if the
interval length of cut waste (L) yarn becomes smaller, the number
of shorts bers increase.

Fig. 5. Main effect of factors.

The multi passage of the material in the recycling machine can

lead to ber damage and the creation of broken, short ber fragments. For this reason when (L) and (N) increase the SFC (short ber
content) and a count of Neps increase.
Cutting waste of yarn before introducing them into the recycling
machine has a very important effect on the recycled ber lengths

B. Wanassi et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 87 (2016) 2732

31

Fig. 6. SEM image of recycling bers, which shows thee break ber zone.

Table 6
Manufacturing cost factors for the chosen countries.

Waste
Labour
Power
Auxiliary material
Capital
Raw material
Total yarn costs (USD per Kg of yarn)

Fig. 7. Tensile strength of yarns.

L (w) and UQL(w) (Fig. 5). Indeed, cutting the yarn increases the
probability of cutting the bers, before introducing them into the
recycling machine. So it was evident that the recycling of waste
yarns cut minimizes the average ber length and the UQL(w).
In the other hand, every passage of waste yarns in the recycling
machine favor the appearance of new relatively long bers. This is
why the L (w) and the UQL(w) increases with passage number (N).
Recycling of waste yarns gives a mixing between bers and
yarns cut. After each additional passage of material (N), it supports
the transformation of yarns cut (recovering from the passage N-1)
of reclaimed bers. For this reason, the Yield of bers R% increases
with number of passes (N). R% is also inuenced by the length of
cut waste yarn. Indeed, the minimum yield R% is obtained where
waste yarns are not cut.
The experimental conditions of recycling waste yarns was a
compromise between ber yield and ber length which identied
by the SFC, L [mm] and UQL. Considering these parameters, the
optimum recycling condition was: cut length L = 10 cm and N = 4.

Egypt

USA

Italy

Turkey

SITEX

11%
2%
3%
3%
14%
67%
4.013

8%
16%
5%
5%
19%
47%
3.279

6%
19%
15%
3%
17%
39%
4.593

8%
6%
12%
4%
17%
52%
3.225

4%
14%
3%
3%
9%
67%

cohesion that is why the tensile strength of blended yarn was than
100% cotton yarn.
Corresponding to Fig. 8, it can be seen that the elongation at
break of two yarns decrease when the count increase. Which conrm the results published by USTER report (Richard, 2009). For each
count of yarns, the elongation of blended yarn was higher than 100%
cotton yarn. The elongation for Ne10, Ne15 and Ne20 blended yarns,
were 6.4%, 9% and 21.4%, respectively, higher than for 100% cotton
yarn.
3.2.2. Yarn unevenness and irregularity
It can be seen in Table 5, that when the blended yarn become
ner, the irregularity (CVm , Thin, Thick and Neps) of bended yarn
increases. Unevenness of bended yarn was higher than 100% cotton yarn in each count (Ne10, Ne15 and Ne20). This difference was
due to variation in mass per unit length along the yarn. In blended
yarn the probability to obtain a same number of bers per section
of yarn is lower than 100% cotton yarn because the higher rate of
short bers in blended yarn which prove theoretical results found
by (Xueqin et al., 2015) and optical results found by (Musa and Ayse,
2006).

3.2. Yarns results

3.2.1. Tensile properties
Tensile strength and elongation at break are the most important parameter to evaluate mechanicals properties of yarn. Tensile
strength of yarn refers to the maximum stress that can be developed
in yarn due to the applied loads prior to failure. It can be seen in
Fig. 7, for bended yarn and 100% cotton yarn, that when the count of
yarn increase the tensile strength decrease. For each count of yarn,
the tensile strength of blended yarn was less than 100% cotton yarn
because of the mount of short ber in yarn, corresponding to the
previous studies (Zeidman and Sawhney, 2002). Blended yarn contain 50% of, relatively, short bers which exhibit low ber to ber

Fig. 8. Elongation at rupture of yarns.

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B. Wanassi et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 87 (2016) 2732

The nal destination of blended yarn was DENIM fabrics. The

physical structures of blended yarn (more unevenness than 100%
cotton yarn) tend to give a fuzzy appearance to DENIM fabrics
which was a benecial effect after washing.
3.2.3. Cost of yarn
The cost of blended yarn was investigated. A suitable method to
determine the cost of cotton yarn has been developed in previous
study (Kaplan, 2004). The cost of yarn consists of several factors
such as raw material, energy, labor and capital. Table 6 illustrates
the details of calculated manufacturing cost of cotton yarn in SITEX
Company compared with the cost of yarn in chosen countries. Spinning with 50% of recycling materials has many advantages such
as: give an added value for the waste yarn and adds a new life
for abundant bers by reintroducing them back into the industrial
cycle. Spinning yarn with 50% of recycling bers gives an economy
at the price of raw materials. Indeed, the cost of raw materials of
blended yarn was 50% of cost of raw materials of 100% cotton yarn
and 33.5% of total cost (raw material cost plus manufacturing cost)
of 100% cotton yarn.
The cost of blended yarn was the sum of cost of raw material
(which was 33.5% of cost of 100% cotton yarn) with the cost of
blended yarn manufacturing. According to Table 6 the cost of manufacturing of blended yarn was 33% of cost of 100% cotton yarn. There
by the cost of blended yarn was 66.5% the cost of 100% cotton yarn.
According to the Eq. (8), the cost of blended yarn was 66.5% of
cost of 100% cotton yarn. Spinning with 50% of recycling cotton
bers, give 33.5% of cost-benet. And give an important minimization in the cost of yarn which can give a serious opportunity to
SITEX Company to produce yarns with reasonable cost. This results
were benecial for SITEX and although for any spinning company
working on the valorization of textile waste.
4. Conclusion
This study was devoted to investigate the recycling of cotton yarn waste and gives an added value to reclaimed bers.
DoE method was used to nd the optimum conditions for
recycling process. At the optimized conditions the characteristics of reclaimed bers was: Neps = 264[Cnt/g], SFC(w) = 25.8%,
UQL(w) = 24.5[mm], L(w) = 18.1[mm] and R% = 79.1%. These bers
were used to spin 50:50 reclaimed bers/cotton bers blended yarn
with three counts (Ne10, Ne 15 and Ne 20). The tensile properties of
blended yarn in each count were less (between 73% and 84%) than
that of 100% cotton yarn. And it was the same case for the physical properties such as the hairiness, U%, thin, thick and CVm where
the irregularity of blended yarns is more than 100% cotton yarns.
However, the most benet of spun blended yarn was the reduction
in the cost of manufacturing by 33.5% comparing to 100% cotton
yarns and with this irregularity blended yarns can give a desirable
effect on DENIM fabrics after washing.

Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the International Company of Textile
SITEX Tunisia, the technical advice and support received from Mr.
Hichem RZIGUA and Mr Moez KECHIDA at the same company.
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