Seaweed Derived Fibres & Textiles for Sustainable Fashion: Opportunities & Challenges

Seaweed Derived Fibres & Textiles for Sustainable Fashion: Opportunities & Challenges

Alginate is an abundantly available, renewable biopolymer which is derived from seaweed (30 million tons of seaweed was produced globally in the year 2016). Seaweed farming can significantly reduce the pressure on farmland, and it is known to produce much lower carbon emissions compared to land-based farming.

Unlike cotton fibres farming, alginate fibres (derived from seaweed) do not need fertile land or large amounts of pesticides/insecticides and fertilisers. Hence, Alginate fibres can potentially offer an excellent alternative to replace cotton in the sustainable fashion and textiles sector.

This seminar will present our current research efforts to manufacture alginate micro fibres as well as alginate nano-fibres for potential use in textiles and the fashion industry. We will present manufacturing methods to produce strong alginate fibres and the associated physical and mechanical properties. We will discuss the potential challenges around the large-scale utilisation of alginate fibres in the fashion and textiles sector. We will also discuss the potential applications of alginate fibres in the emerging fashion sector namely Cosmetic-Textiles (textiles which can provide multiple cosmetic benefits, such as moisturization, and odour management).

The seminar will be led by Dr Sameer S Rahatekar (Composites & Advanced Materials Centre, School of Aerospace Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield University)

When: Wednesday 16th of November 2022, 16:00 – 17:30

Where: Online

Past event.