Desenvolvimento de têxteis a partir de fibras provenientes de cabos de ancoragem offshore

Abstract

The decommissioning of offshore platforms impacts the environment, but when combined with the circular economy, it can generate sustainable raw materials for the textile industry. The mooring ropes, which generally consist of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fiber, are waste generated during decommissioning. The present study aimed to demonstrate that the mechanical recycling process to produce textile yarns is a solution for recycling PET fibers from post-industrial mooring ropes (MR-PET), which can be used for the manufacture of knitted fabrics. Single, doubled, and trilled yarns were produced with 60%, 70%, and 80% purged MR-PET (PMR-PET), and as a reference, single, doubled, and trilled yarns were produced with 100% commercially sourced recycled PET fiber (c-PET). The yarns were evaluated using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Tensile Testing, while the quality of the produced meshes was assessed through burst strength testing. Statistical analyses (ANOVA and Cochran's test) showed that the fibers with PMR-PET have better tensile properties than those with only c-PET. Moreover, the DSC analysis confirmed the tensile test results, indicating that the addition of PMR-PET provides greater crystallinity (36 to 37%), which increases the rigidity of the fibers. The low degradation temperatures (423 to 426 °C) of the PMR-PET fibers, determined in the TGA analysis, compared to the temperatures of c-PET, do not prevent their use in textile products. Given this, all the produced yarns are suitable to produce knitted fabrics, with the 80% yarn achieving the highest burst strength (891 kPa), being compatible with virgin PET knits (900 kPa) presented in the literature. The study demonstrated that the recycling of MR-PET enables the development of yarns and fabrics with excellent mechanical and thermal properties, which can be introduced into the textile industry, aligning with the principles of circularity.