Viscose rayon: recent developments and future prospects

The sustainability of phytomass-derived materials: thermodynamical aspects, life cycle analysis and research perspectives

“…A rough estimate shows that ∼1.5 kg per capita of biobased textile fibres are currently produced annually, if viscose is added to the production of primary textile fibres (cotton, flax, jute, etc .). 101,103–105 Several factors can explain this trend and the production of cotton fibres is a good example. This production accounts for roughly 1/3 of the global natural textiles but it is threatened by several environmental limitations such as high water consumption and a high vulnerability to pests.…”

Towards Sustainable Viscose-to-Viscose Production: Strategies for Recycling of Viscose Fibres

“…MMCF has been used for over 100 years to make textiles, with the primary process being the viscose process, which employs wood as the raw material [17]. The viscose process is a considerably versatile process, where changing process parameters or auxiliaries in the different steps will render viscose fibres of different properties, similar to natural fibres like cotton, which can be used in various textile applications [8,[18][19][20]. The viscose process consists of roughly four main process steps, which, in simple terms, can be described as follows: formation of alkali cellulose by treating the cellulose with high concentrations of sodium hydroxide, ageing of the alkali cellulose to degrade it to achieve the desired degree of polymerisation, forming of sodium-cellulose xanthate by adding carbon disulfide and, finally, dissolution into diluted sodium hydroxide solution to form a viscous, orange-yellow solution known as cellulose-xanthate (viscose dope).…”