Hydrophobization of the Man-Made Cellulosic Fibers by Incorporating Plant-Derived Hydrophobic Compounds

Abstract

The cellulosic fiber-based sustainable textile industry needs greener alternatives to the existing hydrophobization approaches - which are essentially based on nonrenewable and expensive hydrophobizing agents and adversely impact the environment. Herein, we report the production of novel hydrophobic cellulose based fibers produced by incorporating nature-derived hydrophobic additives - betulin (BE) and betulinic acid (BA) using the Ioncell technology. The incorporation process is simple and does not require any additional step during dry-jet wet spinning. Spinning dopes containing up to 10 wt % BE and BA were spinnable and the spun fibers (10BE and 10BA) maintained their mechanical properties. Compared to BE, BA-incorporated fiber showed homogeneous surface morphology suggesting the increased compatibility of BA with cellulose. Consequently, in contrast to BE-incorporated fibers, BA-incorporated fibers demonstrated higher yarn spinnability. Both 10BE and 10BA fibers showed hydrophobicity (water contact angle >90°) in the produced nonwovens and yarns. In summary, we developed a system for hydrophobizing man-made cellulose fiber via a simple eco-friendly and cost-effective way, which has potential for scalability and industrial applications.