@article{vera_zambrano_marquez_vivas_forfora_bedard_farrell_ankeny_pal_jameel_et al._2023, title={Environmentally friendly oxidation pretreatments to produce sugar-based building blocks from dyed textile wastes via enzymatic hydrolysis}, volume={467}, ISSN={["1873-3212"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2023.143321}, DOI={10.1016/j.cej.2023.143321}, abstractNote={Given the increasing concern over textile waste management and the proliferation of textile landfills, enzymatic hydrolysis of cotton represents a potential pathway to upcycle textile waste into valuable chemical building blocks. However, this pathway is challenged by the presence of persistent dyes, hindering enzyme performance. To overcome this issue, environmentally friendly and total chlorine free oxidation methods such as ozone and alkaline hydrogen peroxide were used in combination with mechanical refining pretreatment. The results showed that the enzymatic conversion of black-dyed cotton, without oxidation, resulted in a glucose yield of only 60% as compared to 95% for undyed cotton fibers. On the other hand, the inclusion of oxidation processes in the pretreatment stage resulted in a glucose yield of 90% via enzymatic hydrolysis at expense of using low oxidation chemicals and low enzyme charges. This work highlights the potential of oxidation methods, enzymatic hydrolysis, and mechanical refining as an ecofriendly pathway for generating value-added chemicals from cotton textile waste while promoting economic circularity.}, journal={CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL}, author={Vera, Ramon E. and Zambrano, Franklin and Marquez, Ronald and Vivas, Keren A. and Forfora, Naycari and Bedard, John and Farrell, Matthew and Ankeny, Mary and Pal, Lokendra and Jameel, Hasan and et al.}, year={2023}, month={Jul} }
 @article{vera_suarez_zambrano_marquez_bedard_vivas_pifano_farrell_ankeny_jameel_et al._2023, title={Upcycling cotton textile waste into bio-based building blocks through an environmentally friendly and high-yield conversion process}, volume={189}, ISSN={["1879-0658"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2022.106715}, DOI={10.1016/j.resconrec.2022.106715}, abstractNote={This work presents mechanical refining as a chemical-free pretreatment of cotton textile waste to be converted into glucose via enzymatic hydrolysis. Both Cellic® CTec2 and CTec3 cellulase enzymes were evaluated to perform the enzymatic hydrolysis. Mechanical refining enabled cotton fiber fibrillation, thus increasing its specific surface area, water swellability, enzyme adsorption, and the efficiency of cotton conversion into sugars. Compared to conventional pretreatments, mechanical refining promoted sugar yields above 90% after enzymatic hydrolysis at lower enzyme usage (4–6 FPU/O.D g). From experimental data, a non-linear model was developed to predict cotton conversion. The predictive model allowed the optimization of the conversion process, which resulted in maximum yields of 89.3 and 98.3% when CTec2 and CTec3 were respectively used. Results from this work open the window to deploy mechanical refining as a promising and more sustainable transformation approach to produce sugar-based building blocks within the circular economy framework of textile waste.}, journal={RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING}, author={Vera, Ramon E. and Suarez, Antonio and Zambrano, Franklin and Marquez, Ronald and Bedard, John and Vivas, Keren A. and Pifano, Alonzo and Farrell, Matthew and Ankeny, Mary and Jameel, Hasan and et al.}, year={2023}, month={Feb} }