Comparative study of polycaprolactone fibers reinforced with recycled cellulose acetate obtained from cotton waste and produced by electrospinning, forcespinning, and wet-spinning

The growing demand for cotton textiles has amplified environmental concerns associated with pre-consumer waste, underscoring the need for sustainable recycling pathways. This study reports the extraction of cellulose acetate (CA) from cotton textile residues via acid hydrolysis and evaluates its potential as a reinforcing agent in polycaprolactone (PCL) fibers produced by electrospinning, forcespinning, and wet-spinning. The extraction yielded recycled cellulose acetate (rCA) with a degree of substitution of 2.61 ± 0.17, comparable to commercial CA. Structural analyses confirmed the preservation of acetylated cellulose while indicating a higher hydroxyl content in rCA. Solvent recovery efficiency exceeded 80% for both acetic acid and water, demonstrating the circular potential of the process. When incorporated into PCL, cellulose derivatives influenced fiber morphology, crystallinity, and mechanical behavior in a spinning method-dependent manner. Electrospun fibers exhibited uniform morphologies (0.90-0.98 µm) and high strength, though cellulose addition decreased toughness. Forcespun fibers showed higher stiffness (modulus > 45 MPa) and enhanced crystalline alignment, while wet-spun filaments achieved elongations above 440% for neat PCL but lost ductility upon cellulose incorporation. rCA consistently preserved more of PCL’s crystalline structure than CA, moderating the loss of mechanical performance. These results validate the feasibility of converting cotton waste into high-value cellulose acetate and its integration into polymeric fiber systems, contributing to circular economy strategies and enabling the production of tunable materials for potential sustainable textile applications (e.g., filtration devices, biodegradable composite reinforcements for biomedicine, etc.).