Recycling of used clothing into fuel!!! Now a company from Japan developed a breakthrough technology that made it a reality

We have heard various types of recycling that involved plastic, metal, and paper. But in japan a company named Jeplan is working on technology that converts cotton fiber into used fuel. It would be a great breakthrough as much of the clothing produced annually remains as waste in landfills and incinerators. According to Jeplan, 1 ton of recycled clothing can be used to generate 700 liters of ethanol.

Discarded clothing fed in to machine

The company says it also developed a method to recycle polyester. The compound is used blended in many fabrics and almost 60% of the clothing use polyester as it offers elasticity and durability.The use of polyester also reduce costs and makes clothing wrinkle resistant. According to Masaki Takao, co-founder, and executive officer of Japan, only 10% of clothing gets recycled in japan and majority of which is sold as second-hand clothes. Jeplan has partnered with Osaka technology to develop cotton recycling technology.

production of Glucose in tanks

Takao and his team are working on a technology that extracts polyesters from clothing using various distillation and vaporization cycles.This process also generates only half the amount of carbon dioxide when compared with other methods when making material from scratch. Takao said that as the method is difficult no one has been doing it.

Fermenting glucose to produce ethanol

This method reminds us of Hollywood movie Back to the future wherein mad scientist Emmett “Doc” Brown uses banana peels and a half full can of beer in coffee grinder-sized Mr.Fusion that powers his time traveling machine De Lorean. The company is building a plant on the southern island of Kyushu that may start operating this summer capable of handling 2000 tons of clothing a year. However, to compete with the conventional production methods it requires 30,000 tons of polyester per year.

To further promote recycling efforts Takao has even brought a replica of DeLorean which will be used for promotional activities of Jeplan's  plays work. He hopes the car draws the attention of crowds to know about the recycling program and in turn may lead to voluntary donations of clothing. The company has teamed with Ryohin Keikaku, the owner of retailer Muji, and 7-Eleven owner Seven & I Holdings and set up around 2100 cloth collection boxes throughout japan.

Also Read: Scientists now looking at Old method for Power generation from fossil fuels  without emission of Carbon dioxide (CO2)

Jeplan is also looking to collaborate with soccer teams and sports brands and hopes the huge fan base associated with them will help to tap in the uniforms for recycling which contain a high amount of polyester. Jeplan is also looking to collaborate with soccer teams and sports brands and hopes the huge fan base associated with them will help to tap in the uniforms for recycling, was they contain a high amount of polyester.

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