WO2022013482A1 - A method of separating one or more polymer fractions from a material comprising textiles as well as specific polymer fractions and uses thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to the fields of recycling textiles and treating materials comprising textiles or fibers thereof. Specifically, the invention relates to a method of separating one or more polymer fractions from a material comprising one or more textiles or fibers thereof. Still, the present invention relates to a product or fraction obtained by the method of the present invention and uses of said product or fraction.

Description

A METHOD OF SEPARATING ONE OR MORE POLYMER FRACTIONS FROM A MATERIAL COMPRISING TEXTILES AS WELL AS SPECIFIC POLYMER FRACTIONS AND USES THEREOF

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the fields of recycling textiles and treating materi als comprising textiles or fibers thereof. Specifically, the invention relates to a method of separating one or more polymer fractions from a material comprising one or more textiles or fibers thereof. Still, the present invention relates to a prod uct or fraction obtained by the method of the present invention and uses of said product or fraction.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Textile products are essential in our daily life, consequently, millions of tons of waste fabrics are generated every year. The increase in the production and con sumption of textiles during the past few decades could also be attributed to the in creasing worldwide population, improvements in living standards and the acceler ating fashion cycle which demands more frequent replacement of the products with fresher, more modern ones. The current trends result in generation of more textile waste. The quantity of waste textiles in the European Union (EU) is estimat ed to be 5.8 million tons per year. 25% of the textile waste is collected by charity organizations or businesses with the purpose of reusing or recycling and the rest of 5.8 million tons (i.e. about 4.3 million tons), is sent to landfills or municipal waste incinerators (Briga-Sa, A. et al. 2013, Construction and Building Materials. 38, 155-160). By 2030, total consumption of textiles is expected to have risen by 63%, from 62 million tons today to 102 million tons (Rengel, A.: Recycled Textile Fibres and Textile Recycling An overview of the Market and its possibilities for Public Procurers in Switzerland. Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), Switzerland (2017)). The textile industry's current linear model of make, use and disposal, rep resents an obvious stress on natural resources.

Currently, waste textile recycling is done either mechanically or chemically. Me chanical recycling is the simplest way to recycle fabrics, the process involves me chanically deconstructing the fabrics, ending up with re-useable fibers and materi al. It is an effective way to bring used materials back into the cycle. However, the problem with this method is that natural fibers are shortened and damaged during the shredding process. This leads to reduction in their quality, and thus, their reus ability is limited. Additionally, synthetic fibers also lose their quality and length eve ry time going through a mechanical recycling process. For instance, if using re generated cotton fibers, these would generally need to be fused with virgin cotton fiber threads to obtain the needed quality and strength - the mix often approximat ing 20% regenerated fibers and 80% virgin. Furthermore, unfortunately, not all tex tiles are suitable for mechanical recycling, for example, pure cotton, pure polyester and textiles with high wool content.

Chemical recycling involves materials going through a chemical process to pro duce new filaments that will be transformed into new yarns and fabrics. So far, this recycling technique requires textiles consisting only of the same fiber to work effi ciently and without complications. Furthermore, the reported chemical recycling methods often require harsh processing conditions resulting in low quality fiber, large amounts of chemicals for recycling and high amount of energy (see e.g. Negulescu, 1.1 et al. 1998, Textile Chemist and Colorist. 30, 31-35). And signifi cantly, the chemical recycling processes of the prior art fail to show the conversion of textile waste to new-value added products.

Reuses or recycling of products and materials will be impossible if there are no simple, commercially acceptable separation processes for materials comprising textiles or fibers thereof (e.g. mixed fabrics waste). It is evident that there is a strong need to advance recycling methods of textile materials, towards a simple, effective, viable, and ecofriendly concept, that will comply with the circular econo my ideology.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Accumulation of large amounts of waste textile, e.g. waste poly-cotton fabrics (WP-CFs), leads to environmental challenges as well as depletion of resources. The present invention provides a solution to overcome the defects of the prior art including but not limited to a lack of a simple, effective, cost-effective, viable and ecofriendly concept for recycling materials comprising textiles thereby allowing a conversion of the textile material to new-value added products. The problems of the prior art down-cycling of textiles, meaning production of materials of lower quality than the original material, can be overcome by the method of the present invention. The objects of the invention, namely methods and tools for separating one or more polymer fractions from a material comprising textiles or fibers thereof, are achieved by utilizing a specific solvent with surprising effects e.g. on the separated fractions.

Indeed, it has now been found that a deep eutectic solvent (DES) can be effective ly used in a surprisingly simple and large scale method for separating one or more polymer fractions from a material comprising textiles or fibers thereof (e.g. material comprising blended textiles). Indeed, in the present invention the structure of the textile can be affected or disintegrated by a composition comprising DES, for ex ample in a way that at least part or all of the polymer fibers of the textile become separated from each other without being dissolved to said composition comprising DES and/or in a way that at least part of the polymer fibers become dissolved by said composition comprising DES. Thereafter one or more fractions containing an increased amount of components of interest, such as one or more solid fractions comprising e.g. natural or synthetic polymers or polymer fibers, can be obtained. For example, the present invention enables obtaining or recovering one or more substantially pure polymer fractions, e.g. having a very high degree of polymeriza tion and/or a cellulose content. The technology of the present invention enables the use of waste textiles in order to generate new high quality fibers.

Furthermore, due to the effectiveness less chemicals are needed in the fractiona tion method of the present invention compared to the fractionation methods of the prior art. Also, the method of the present invention is suitable for a large-scale in dustrial separation of fractions.

Surprisingly the single, simple and effective fractionation method of the present in vention enables separation of one or more or even all different types of natural (i.e. non-synthetic), semi-synthetic and/or synthetic polymers or fibers of the textile ma terial. For example, upcycling of cotton and polyester from a mixed textile material is possible with the method of the present invention. The present invention ena bles recycling of different low-cost textile raw materials for further valorization.

Specifically, the present invention relates to a method of separating one or more polymer fractions from a material comprising one or more textiles or fibers thereof, wherein said method comprises contacting a material comprising one or more tex tiles or fibers thereof with a composition comprising a deep eutectic solvent (DES) to obtain a mixture of said material and said composition; and separating a first fraction comprising polymers and/or a second fraction comprising polymers from the mixture (e.g. liquid part of the mixture).

Also, the present invention relates to a product or fraction comprising polymers or fibers, wherein said product or fraction is obtained by the method of the present invention for separating one or more polymer fractions from a material comprising textiles or fibers thereof.

And still, the present invention relates to use of the product or fraction of the pre sent invention in industry, fabric or textile industry, membrane fabrication, biorefin ing, hydrolysis into glucose or sugar derivatives, production of bioethanol, produc tion of platform chemicals, or as platform chemicals.

Other objects, details and advantages of the present invention will become appar ent from the following drawings, detailed description and examples.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 shows a schematic and an embodiment of the method of the present in vention as well as fractions obtained by said method. The method of the present invention for separating one or more polymer fractions from a material comprising textiles or fibers thereof, is based on at least two steps i.e. contacting a material comprising textiles or fibers thereof with a composition comprising a deep eutectic solvent (DES) to obtain a mixture of said material and said composition, and sepa rating a first fraction comprising at least one type of polymers (e.g. type one poly mers) and/or a second fraction comprising at least one type of polymers (e.g. type two polymers) from the mixture.

Figure 2 shows a picture of the waste poly-cotton fabrics (WP-CFs) (A): before the NADES treatment, (B): after the NADES treatment and washing, (C): the recov ered cotton from the spent NADES and (D): the spent and fresh NADES.

Figure 3 shows thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) curves of WP-CFs, before and after the NADES treatment, and the recovered cotton precipitated by water.

Figure 4 shows Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of WP-CFs before and after the NADES treatment and the FTIR spectra of the recovered cotton after the treatment. Spectra A shows the whole range and spectra B shows ranges be tween 1900 to 400cm ¹.

Figure 5 shows X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra of the recovered cotton from the spent NADES after the NADES treatment of WP-CFs for 6 hours at 120°C.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The method of the present invention concerns textile recycling and valorization. The method of the present invention for separating one or more polymer fractions from a material comprising textiles or fibers thereof, is based on at least two steps i.e. contacting a material comprising textiles or fibers thereof with a composition comprising a deep eutectic solvent (DES) to obtain a mixture of said material and said composition, and separating a first fraction comprising polymers (e.g. capable of remaining at least partly unaffected by the DES treatment) and/or a second frac tion comprising polymers (e.g. at least partially affected by the DES treatment) from the mixture (see Figure 1). For example, solid polymers or polymer fibers of the mixture (e.g. having a larger size compared to the polymers of the optional second fraction) can be separated to the first fraction and/or smaller size polymers or polymer fibers such as (dispersed) natural polymers (e.g. cellulose) of the mix ture can be separated to the second fraction.

Indeed, a composition comprising one or more DESs (or two or more said compo sitions) is utilized with one or more different separation technologies to produce purified fractions from a material comprising textiles or fibers thereof (see figure 1 ). The present invention thus provides a single method by combining DES treatment with one or more separation steps, and thereby enables synergistic effects, e.g. production of large amounts of substantially pure polymer fractions.

A material comprising textiles or fibers thereof to be used in the method of the pre sent invention can be any material including but not limited to e.g. mixed waste or mixed textiles. As used herein “a textile” refers to a material (e.g. flexible material) comprising a network of natural and/or artificial fibers (e.g. yarn or thread). For ex ample, yarn can be produced by spinning fibers to long strands. Textiles can be formed from fibers or yarn e.g. by weaving, knitting, crocheting, knotting, tatting, felting, twisting or braiding. Majority of waste textiles are blended fibers because they often show a better per formance than single-fiber textiles. Polyester and cotton are the most common synthetic and natural fibers, respectively, used in the world today. Polyester is a semi-crystalline thermoplastic polymer derived from petroleum-based chemicals which shows high tensile strength, chemical resistance, and is often thermally sta ble. As used herein a polyester refers to a polymer comprising an ester functional group in the main chain. An ester can be derived from an acid (organic or inorgan ic) in which at least one -OH (hydroxyl) group is replaced by an -O-alkyl (alkoxy) group. Polyesters include naturally occurring polymers as well as synthetic and semi-synthetic polymers. In one embodiment the polyester is an aliphatic polyes ter, semi-aromatic polyester, aromatic polyester or copolymer.

Concerning cotton, the main component of the cotton fiber is a-cellulose molecule, and said molecules can count e.g. for 88.0-96.0 % by weight of the fibers, the rest being a mixture of proteins, waxes, pectins, inorganics, and other substances. Cel lulose is a polysaccharide molecule consisting of a chain of anhydroglucose units, each containing three hydroxyl groups (-OH) with the molecular formula (O_qHioq5)_h. The anhydroglucoses are linked as repeating b-cellobiose units. The positioning of the hydroxyl groups along the chain makes them readily available for hydrogen bonding. The strong hydrogen bonds formed between chains of the cel lulose molecule result in a highly crystalline cotton fiber with a marked long and rigid structure known as a microfibril (e.g. Morton, W.E., Hearle, W.S.: Physical properties of textile fibers. Woodhead Publishing Limited (2008))

In one embodiment of the method of the present invention the material comprising one or more textiles or fibers thereof (or fabric) comprises natural, semi-synthetic and/or synthetic polymers or fibers. Textiles can be classified according to their fi bers into silk, wool, linen, cotton, such synthetic fibers as rayon, nylon, and polyes ters, and some inorganic fibers, such as cloth of gold, glass fiber, and asbestos cloth. In one embodiment the material comprising one or more textiles or fibers thereof comprises polymers or fibers selected from the group comprising or con sisting of cotton, wool, linen, silk, cellulose, polyester, acrylic, elastic, polypropyl ene (PP), polyethylene (PE), rayon, nylon, spandex, latex, carbon and vinyl poly mers or fibers, and any combination thereof; or the material comprising textiles or fibers thereof comprises cotton and polyester, cotton and elastic, cotton and wool, or cotton or wool polymers or fibers, or any combination thereof. In one embodi ment the material comprising textiles or fibers thereof (or fabric) comprises cellu lose and polyester polymers or fibers, or cellulose and polyester fabric blends. In one embodiment the polyester can be any polyester e.g. suitable for use in tex tiles or can be selected e.g. from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), poly-1 ,4- cyclohexylene-dimethylene (PCDT) and plant-based polyesters and any combina- tion thereof. For example, plant-based paraxylene, plant-derived ethylene giycoi, or biopolymers of molasses can be used for producing plant-based polyesters. For example, the textile to be treated according to the present invention can typicaiiy comprise at least about 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, or 60% or more (e.g. 100%) polyesters (e.g. PET, PCDT and/or plant-based polyesters) by weight of the textile, e.g. about 10:90, 20:80, 30:70, 35:64, 45:54, or 50:50 other polymer (e.g. cotton): polyester by weight.

In one embodiment a tight combination of different types of polymers (e.g. a com bination of one or more polyesters and cotton) increases the difficulty of recycling. The separation of blended fabrics can be based on the natural differences of said polymers.

The method of the present invention comprises separating a first fraction compris ing polymers and/or a second fraction comprising (other) polymers (than in the first fraction) from the mixture comprising one or more textiles or fibers thereof and DES. In one embodiment one or more (e.g. one, two, three, four, five or more) types of natural and/or synthetic polymers or fibers of the material are separated. In a specific embodiment all different types of natural and/or synthetic polymers or fibers present in the material to be treated can be separated or obtained with the method of the present invention.

In the present invention the material comprising one or more textiles or fibers thereof (or e.g. small pieces of said material) is contacted with a composition com prising a DES and thus a mixture of said material and said composition is ob- tained. Typically, the treatment of the material with a composition comprising a DES is the first step of the fractionation method but does not need to be the first step. A solution comprising or consisting of one or more DESs can disintegrate or disentangle components of textiles or fibers thereof (e.g. different polymers from each other, e.g. synthetic polymers or polymer fibers and natural polymers such as cellulose from each other), and thereafter separation of the polymers (e.g. one or more polyesters or other polymers) from the mixture or liquid part of the mixture is possible. Indeed, the composition comprising one or more DESs can separate or break bonds between components or polymers, e.g. between different polymer types (such as PET and cellulose, e.g. cellulose of cotton) of the textile. In one embodiment of the method of the present invention the mixture comprises poly mers or polymer fibers of the textile, which have been disintegrated from each oth er by the composition comprising DES.

The composition of the present invention used for treating the material comprising one or more textiles or fibers thereof comprises a DES and optionally any other agent such as any other solvent, e.g. water or alcohol (such as ethanol, methanol, glycerol, carboxylic acids, guaindine hydrochloride). In one embodiment the com position comprising DES is a liquid composition. In a specific embodiment the composition consists of DES only.

As used herein DES refers to a deep eutectic solvent. DESs are a type of ionic liq uid analogues formed from a eutectic mixture of Lewis or Bronsted acids and ba ses, i.e. a hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA) and a hydrogen bond donor (HBD). Compared to traditional ionic liquids DESs offer several advantages including their low toxicity, low price, and biodegradability. The physicochemical properties of DESs are similar to those of traditional ionic liquids. In general, the term DES is used to refer to a mixture of compounds at a ratio that is close to their eutectic point, i.e. where they form a mixture with lowest freezing (or melting) point. Typi cally, a DES is made up of two compounds, an HBA and an HBD, but in some cases a complexing agent may be required. In summary, the term “deep eutectic solvent” or acronym “DES” is used to describe a solvent which comprises two or more separate chemical compounds at a ratio that has the lowest melting point. Typically, DES is composed of a mixture of two or more organic compounds with a final melting point much lower than the individual components.

Deep eutectic solvents are usually formed by mixing a hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA) such as an ammonium, phosphonium, or sulfonium cation, and a hydrogen bond donor (HBD) such as a carboxylic acid, a urea, or a glycerol. Exemplary cati ons used include, but are not limited to, choline chloride, betaine, N-e thyl-2- hydroxy-/V,/V-dimethylethanaminium chloride, 2-(chlorocarbonyloxy)-/V,/V,/V- trimethylethanaminium chloride, and A/-benzyl-2-hydroxy-

L/,L/.dimethylethanaminium. Exemplary hydrogen bond donors include, but are not limited to, urea, acetamide, methylated ureas, glycerol, ethylene glycol, malonic acid, acetic acid, formic acid, lactic acid, adipic acid, oxalic acid, and citric acid. Examples of deep eutectic solvents include but are not limited to lactic acid : cho line chloride (e.g. in the molar ratio 12:1 - 2:1, such as 9:1), acetic acid : choline chloride (e.g. in the molar ratio 18:1 - 2:1, such as 9:1), sorbitol : choline chloride (e.g. in the molar ratio 5:1 - 1 :1, such as 5:1 , 2:1 or 1 :1), glycerol : choline chloride (e.g. in the molar ratio 5:1 - 1 :1, such as 2:1), boric acid : choline chloride (e.g. in the molar ratio 3:1 - 1:1, such as 2:1), formic acid : choline chloride (e.g. in the molar ratio 1 :1 - 3:1, such as 2:1), carboxylic acids : choline chloride (e.g. in the molar ratio 3:1 - 1 :1, such as 2:1 ), guaindine hydrochloride : lactic acid (e.g. in the molar ratio 1 :2 - 1 :9, such as 1:10).

In a specific embodiment the DES is selected from the group consisting of natural deep eutectic solvents, choline chloride-based DESs, choline chloride/lactic acid, choline chloride/acetic acid, choline chloride/sorbitol/glycerol, choline chlo ride/boric acid, choline chloride/formic acid, and choline chloride/guanidine hydro chloride, and any combination thereof.

Choline chloride-based reagents are easy for high purity solvent preparation at significantly low capital expenditure.

When DES is prepared from reagents of natural origin or when the compounds that constitute the DES are primary metabolites, namely amino acids, organic ac ids, sugars, or choline derivatives, the DES is a so called natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES). In one embodiment the DES is a NADES. NADESs represents green chemistry principles and can be used in applications requiring principles of sustainable development. NADESs do not present inherent toxicity and do not have high volatility, thus not leading to evaporation of volatile organic compounds to the atmosphere.

In a very specific embodiment the material comprising poly-cotton fabrics (e.g. WP-CFs) is fractionated using NADES (e.g. based on a choline chloride and lactic acids solvent) in the solvent aided separation or recycling process of the present invention.

In a specific embodiment the solution or DES choline chloride/lactic acid has a ra tio between choline chloride and lactic acid from 1 :100 to 1 :4 by molar mass, or at least 1 :20 by molar mass, typically about 1 :10 by molar mass.

In one embodiment of the invention, the composition comprising or consisting of DES is contacted with the material at a ratio between the composition or DES and the material from 100:1 to 2:1 by mass, or at least 5:1 by mass, 10:1 by mass, 15:1 by mass, 20:1 by mass or 30:1 by mass.

In one embodiment the material is allowed to contact with the composition com prising DES for at least 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours, 6 hours, or 2-25 hours or 3-10 hours, and/or the material is allowed to contact with said com position comprising DES at a temperature of at least 60°C, 70°C, 80°C, 90°C, 100°C, or 110°C; or less than 200°C, 190°C, 180°C, 170°C, 160°C, 150°C, 140°C, 130°C, 120°C, 110°C, 100°C, 90°C, 80°C or 70°C; or about 60 to 150°C or about 90 to 150°C. DESs enable extractions with low melting points, also below 100°C, making handling of DESs and the method of the present invention easy.

Optionally, physical treatment, such as increased pressure, microwave irradiation or ultra-sonication, of the material can be carried out when contacting the material with a composition comprising DES. These treatments typically decrease the treatment time needed in DES. In very specific embodiments when the physical treatment and DES treatment are combined, the material is allowed to contact with a composition comprising DES e.g. less than 2 hours.

Contacting the material with a composition comprising DES may be carried out e.g. by adding a DES composition to the material by one, two, three or several times or contacting the material with a DES composition one, two, three or several times.

In one embodiment after allowing the composition comprising DES to contact with the material, the liquid part of the obtained mixture comprises e.g. dissolved poly mers, oligosaccharides, monosaccharides, solubilizers and/or other chemical agents or compounds dissolved from the treated material e.g. by DES, or any combination thereof, and/or undissolved components such as polymers and/or polymer fibers. The composition comprising DES enables disintegration of compo nents, fibers or polymers of textiles from each other. Indeed, in one embodiment the material is treated with a composition comprising a DES to remove or disinte grate at least a portion of the polymers, e.g. natural and/or synthetic polymers, e.g. celluloses and/or other polymers such as synthetic polymers, from the material.

In one embodiment the method further comprises stirring or mixing the mixture (e.g. magnetic stirring or mixing) when the material is allowed to contact with the composition comprising a DES. In one embodiment the stirring or mixing is contin- ued as long as the material is allowed to contact with the composition comprising a DES before a separation step.

In one embodiment after allowing the material to contact with the composition comprising DES at an increased or high temperature, the obtained mixture is al lowed to cool down e.g. to a room temperature before a separation step or the ob tained mixture is used as a hot or warm mixture for a separation step.

In one embodiment of the invention at least one solid fraction comprising polymers or polymer fibers is separated from the mixture comprising textile or fibers thereof and DES and optionally dissolved compounds of the material. Indeed, in one em bodiment after the material is allowed to contact with the composition comprising a DES, the first fraction comprising polymers (of type one, e.g. undissolved or dis solved polymers of the mixture) is separated from (the rest of) the mixture e.g. by a filtration (e.g. molecular or membrane filtration), centrifugal separation, decanta tion and/or pneumatic separation. As used herein “membrane filtration” refers to a technique which is used to separate particles from a liquid for the purpose of puri fying it, in other words a solvent and impurities are passed through a semi- permeable membrane. Membrane filtration techniques include nanofiltration, ultra filtration, microfiltration and reverse osmosis. In one embodiment the separation comprises filtration, optionally with a 300 - 400 pm sieve opening, e.g. a 350 pm sieve opening. The used size of sieve openings can depend on the type of the polymers of interest to be separated. Indeed, in one embodiment the first fraction comprising polymers is a solid polymer fraction. For example, synthetic polymer fi bers such as PET fibers can be separated to the first polymer fraction. For exam ple, cellulose (e.g. dispersed cellulose of cotton) cannot be separated with a sieve having large sieve openings (e.g. 300 - 400 pm sieve openings), and therefore, in one embodiment of the invention a tighter filter is needed for separating celluloses.

In one embodiment the first fraction comprises large solid polymer materials or fi bers. In one embodiment when the material to be treated comprises synthetic pol ymers, polyester or PET, then the first fraction comprises synthetic polymers, pol yester or PET, respectively.

In one embodiment of the present invention after separating the first fraction from the mixture, the method further comprises washing the obtained first fraction (e.g. to remove residual DES), and/or drying said first fraction. Suitable washing tem peratures include any temperature common to a person skilled in the art, for ex- ample below 100°C, below 40°C or e.g. about a room temperature (25°C). Suita ble drying conditions include but are not limited to e.g. 60°C - 100°C (e.g. 80°C) for 2 - 10 hours (e.g. 6 h).

In one embodiment the yield of the polymers or fibers of the first fraction is at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99%, and/or the purity of the polymers or fibers of the first fraction is at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 95.5%, 96%, 96.5%, 97%, 97.5%, 98%, 98.5%, 99% or 99.5%.

After removing the first fraction from the mixture or without removing the first frac tion from the mixture, the method of the present invention can comprise adding aqueous liquid such as water (e.g. deionized water) or another solvent to the mix ture (optionally obtained after separating the first fraction comprising polymers from the mixture). Indeed, in one embodiment before separating the second frac tion comprising polymers, water or another solvent is added to the mixture (op tionally obtained after separating the first fraction comprising polymers from the mixture). Addition of water or another solvent can be used e.g. in cases wherein one or more of the polymers or fibers to be separated from the mixture are dis solved polymers. For example in such cases precipitation of polymers can be en hanced, induced or carried out by adding said aqueous liquid (e.g. water) to the mixture, and optionally thereafter the second fraction of the mixture comprising polymers can be obtained.

In one embodiment water or another solvent is not added to the mixture (which is optionally obtained after separating the first fraction comprising polymers from the mixture) before separating the second or further fraction comprising polymers. In deed, in one embodiment the second polymer fraction can be separated (directly) from the mixture comprising or consisting of one or more textiles or fibers thereof and a composition comprising DES, i.e. without any addition of water or another solvent to the mixture.

In one embodiment the method comprises separating the second fraction compris ing polymers (undissolved or dissolved polymers) from the mixture (optionally ob tained after separating the first fraction comprising polymers from the mixture). In cases wherein both the first and the second fractions are separated in the method of the present invention, separation can be carried out e.g. based on different siz es of the components, fibers or polymers of interest. For example, large solid pol ymers, polymer fibers or polymer materials of the mixture can be separated as the first fraction and smaller polymers such as dispersed cellulose of the mixture as the second fraction.

In one embodiment the second fraction is separated by a centrifugation, gravity separation, membrane aided separation and/or filtration, typically by a combination of a centrifugation, gravity separation, or membrane aided separation, and a filtra tion (optionally after adding the aqueous liquid (e.g. water) or other solvent to the mixture or without addition of said aqueous liquid or solvent). In one embodiment the separation comprises filtration, optionally with a 0.3 - 0.5 pm pore size filter, e.g. a 0.45 pm pore size filter. The used pore size can depend on the type of the polymers of interest to be separated. In one embodiment the pore size of the filter or sieve for separating the second fraction is smaller compared to the pore size of the filter or sieve used for separating the first fraction, thereby allowing separation of components of different sizes from the mixture, e.g. large synthetic or natural polymers or materials to the first fraction and smaller polymers or materials, e.g. dispersed synthetic or natural polymers such as cellulose, to the second fraction.

In a very specific embodiment, one or more polymers or polymer fibers of the tex tile disintegrated from each other by the composition comprising DES without be ing dissolved to said composition comprising DES are separated e.g. at least by filtering to at least two fractions, wherein the first fraction can comprise e.g. large solid polymers or fibers such as synthetic polymers or fibers e.g. PET and the second fraction can comprise smaller polymers or polymer fibers compared to the first fraction, e.g. dispersed cellulose.

For example, the present invention enables extraction of microcrystalline cellulose from a material comprising textiles or fibers thereof by utilizing DES. The extrac tion of microcrystalline cellulose as value-added products can be utilized in the present invention e.g. for recycling material comprising cotton or material compris ing polyester cotton blended textile. In one embodiment when the material to be treated comprises natural polymers, cellulose or cotton (e.g. a combination of a polyester or PET, and cotton) the second fraction comprises natural polymers, cel lulose or cotton (e.g. cellulose of cotton).

In one embodiment the second fraction or the polymers or fibers of the second fraction are washed e.g. to remove residual DES, and/or dried. Suitable washing temperatures include any temperature common to a person skilled in the art, for example below 100°C, below 40°C or e.g. about a room temperature (25°C). Suit- able drying conditions include but are not limited to e.g. 60°C - 100°C (e.g. 80°C) for 2 - 10 hours (e.g. 6 h).

In one embodiment the yield of the polymers or fibers of the second fraction is at least 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, or 90%; the purity of the polymers or fibers of the second fraction is at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 95.5%, 96%, 96.5%, 97%, 97.5%, 98%, 98.5%, 99% or 99.5%; and/or the degree of polymeriza tion in the second fraction is at least 200, 210, 220, 230, 240, 250, 260, 270, 280, 290, 300, 310, 320, 330, 340, 350, 360, 370, 380, 390 or 400, typically 200 - 600 or 200 - 500. Indeed, for example production of large amounts of substantially pure cellulose, e.g. having high degree of polymerization is possible by the method of the present invention.

In one embodiment the purity of the polymers or fibers of the second fraction is at least 90%, 91 %, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 95.5%, 96%, 96.5%, 97%, 97.5%, 98%, 98.5%, 99% or 99.5%, and the degree of polymerization in the second fraction is at least 200, 210, 220, 230, 240, 250, 260, 270, 280, 290, 300, 310, 320, 330, 340, 350, 360, 370, 380, 390 or 400, typically 200 - 600 or 200 - 500. For example, ex traction of cellulose from the textile material and thereafter separation of micro- crystalline cellulose is enabled by the present invention. In one embodiment the cellulose (or cotton) purity and degree of polymerization of the second fraction is at least 95% (e.g. at least 98%) and at least 200 (e.g. at least 220), respectively.

The degree of polymerization can be determined by any suitable method e.g. the CED method as described in the article of Shi, S. et al. (2018, Waste Manage ment. 82, 139-146) or Zhang, H. et al. (2016, Physical Chemistry Chemical Phys ics. 18, 28297-28306). For example, one or more of the following equations can be used to calculate the degree of polymerization:

Relative viscosity q_r can be calculated by equation 1 .

Equation 1

Where: t= flow time of solutions to= flow time of solvent h°= zero shear viscosity of solutions Hs= zero shear viscosity of solvent

Specific viscosity h_8r was calculated using equation 2.

Equation 2

The intrinsic viscosity [h] can be determined by the equation 3. Equation 3

Where: C= concentration

The degree of polymerization (DP) can then be calculated by the relationship built by Liu, J. et al. (2016, Cellulose. 23, 2341-2348) which is suitable for samples with DP values in the range of 220 to 1400 (equation 4).

Equation 4

DP - 134[iiF

In one embodiment of the present invention, e.g. as shown in the examples of the present disclosure, the solubility of obtained cellulose is reduced with increasing DP.

In one embodiment the degree of crystallization of the polymers of the second fraction (e.g. cellulose or cotton) can be e.g. at least 80%, 85%, 90%, or 95%. The degree of crystallization can be determined by any suitable method, e.g. X-ray dif fraction (XRD). For example, suitable XRD patterns are presented in Figure 5. In one embodiment the cellulose or cotton of the second fraction exhibits crystalline patterns that are typical for either native cellulose or cotton. For example, high crystallinity index values can indicate the removal of the amorphous regions after the NADES treatment. Furthermore, the crystallinity index value can also indicate a high rigidity of the recovered cellulose or cotton.

For example, the first or second fraction (e.g. cotton isolated from the material comprising textiles such as polyester cotton blended fabric) can be characterized by its structure, crystallinity, degree of polymerization (DP), and/or thermal stability e.g. as shown in the examples part of the present disclosure. For example, scan ning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infra red (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and/or contact angle analysis can be utilized for characterizing the fractions, e.g. as shown in the examples part of the present disclosure.

In one embodiment after separating one or more fractions (e.g. the first and/or second fraction) from the mixture the DES is separated from the remaining mix ture, and optionally purified, for reuse. For example, water, if used in said mixture, can be evaporated from the mixture before recovering the DES for further use.

In one embodiment at least a portion of the polymers or fibers of the first and/or second fraction is directed to further processing or for use in industry, e.g. fabric or textile industry, membrane fabrication, biorefining, hydrolysis into glucose or sugar derivatives, production of bioethanol, production of platform chemicals, or as plat form chemicals.

The present invention also concerns a product or fraction (e.g. the first and/or sec ond fraction) comprising polymers or fibers, wherein said product or fraction is ob tained by the method of the present invention. In one embodiment the product can be a combination of one or more fractions or polymers, e.g. a combination of the first and the second fraction. Said combination can be a mixture of said fractions or polymers, or any non-mixed combination.

In one embodiment the product or fraction is a washed and/or dried product or fraction. The product or fraction can be in any solid, semi-solid or liquid form, such as in a form of a solution, suspension, pellet or powder.

In one embodiment the degree of polymerization in the product or fraction (e.g. the first and/or second fraction) is at least 200, 210, 220, 230, 240, 250, 260, 270, 280, 290, 300, 310, 320, 330, 340, 350, 360, 370, 380, 390 or 400, typically 200 - 600 or 200 - 500; the yield of the polymers or fibers (e.g. of the first and/or second fraction) is at least 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, or 90%, or at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99%; and/or the purity of the pol ymers or fibers (e.g. of the first and/or second fraction) is at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 95.5%, 96%, 96.5%, 97%, 97.5%, 98%, 98.5%, 99% or 99.5%. The present invention further concerns use of the product or fraction of the present invention in industry, fabric or textile industry, membrane fabrication, biorefining, hydrolysis into glucose or sugar derivatives, production of bioethanol (e.g. via en zymatic hydrolysis), production of platform chemicals, or as platform chemicals. In one embodiment, the polymers or any fraction of the present invention can be dis solved and respinned into a fibric or textile. For example, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) can be produced by the present invention and broadly applied in packag ing, agriculture, food, automotive, aerospace, and other industries.

Waste textiles, such as fabrics comprising polyester and/or cotton, are valuable resources worthy of recycling and the present invention provides methods and tools suitable for said recycling.

It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as the technology advances, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. The invention and its embodiments are not limited to the examples described below but may vary within the scope of the claims.

EXAMPLES

Materials

Waste poly-cotton fabrics (WP-CFs) were purchased from the local retail store, the polyester cotton ratio was 65:35 weight ratio was reported by manufacturer. Cho line chloride (ChCI) (CAS # 67-48-1, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) was used as HBA and lactic acid (LAc) (CAS # 79-33-4, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) as HBD. Ultra-pure deionized water (Dl, 15 MW) was obtained from a CENTRA-R 60/120 system (Elga purification system, Veolia Water, Bucks, UK), and used in all experiments. In this experiment all the reagents were analytically pure and used without pretreatment. However, any reagents including e.g. analyti cally impure and/or pretreated reagents suitable for large scale industrial methods can be used in the present invention. All the experiments were replicated twice on ly for scientific purposes.

NADES Preparation

The preparation of NADES was implemented by the mixture of choline chloride and lactic acid at the molar ratio of 1 :10, followed by rigorous agitation for 2 h at 85°C. Once a homogeneous and transparent liquid without a presence of solid particles was achieved, the resulting clear liquid was laid aside in a desiccator at room temperature to be cooled gradually without any moisture absorption.

Fractionation of WP-CFs

NADES aided fractionation of WP-CFs was carried out in a pressure-resistant glass container. The WP-CFs were cut into small pieces (1x1 cm²), and each dry sample (2.0 g) was mixed with NADES and heated to the desired temperature (100-130°C) with different solvent to WP-CFs ratio bleating was provided on a hotplate equipped with magnetic stirred, an oil bath was used to ensure homoge nous heating during the treatment period. After that, the mixture was filtered through a 350 pm size filter mesh to separate the lager particles (polyester) from NADES solution enriched with cotton macromolecules. Then the polyester was washed with distilled water, finally, it was dried at 80°C for 6 h to obtain a product. The cotton rich spent NADES was then mixed with Dl water to induce the precipi tation of cotton, which was then separated by centrifugation and decantation. The water was evaporated using rotary evaporator, to recover the spent NADES for reuse.

Characterization

Acid hydrolysis

The cotton and polyester content were determined according to the EU regulation no. 1007/2011. All blended fabrics were treated in a 10M H2SO4 solution at 95°C between 20-30 min with a liquor to sample ratio of 100:0.2 to ensure complete dissolution of the cellulose component. Then, the mixture was poured into ice wa ter to quench the reaction. The polyester residue was filtered off, washed with wa ter and acetone, and dried in a vacuum oven for 6 h at 50°C. The resulting weights were compared to the initial blend concentration. The dry matter content of the starting materials and the resulting products was included in the calculation (REGULATION (EU) No 1007/2011 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal- content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02011 R1007-20130701 &from=EN, (2011 )).

Determination of the DP, yield of recovered cotton and residual amount of WP- CFs The DP of the recovered cotton from the NADES fractionation process was inves tigated to determine the effect of the treatment conditions on the macromolecular cellulose chains. The DP was determined by the CED method (Shi, S. et al. 2018, Waste Management. 82, 139-146; Zhang, H. et al. 2016, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 18, 28297-28306). Approximately 3 g of recovered cotton was added to 50 mL stoppered bottles containing 7.5 mL distilled water and ultrasoni- cated for 2 min to obtain wet powder. Then 22.5 mL 1.0 M CED at a ratio of 3:1 was added to the bottle. The mixture was shaken until the recovered cotton dis solved. The DP of the recovered cotton is calculated using the following equations.

Equations used to calculate degree of polymerization Relative viscosity q_r was calculated by equation 1. Equation 1

Where: t= flow time of solutions to= flow time of solvent h°= zero shear viscosity of solutions

Hs= zero shear viscosity of solvent

Specific viscosity h_8r was calculated using equation 2. Equation 2

The intrinsic viscosity [h] was determined by the equation 3. Equation 3

[h] =

C

Where: C= concentration The DP was then calculated by the relationship built by Liu, J. et al. (2016, Cellu lose. 23, 2341-2348) which is suitable for samples with DP values in the range of 220 to 1400 (equation 4). Equation 4

DP = 134 i]]¹·²

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy

To characterize the NADES treated and untreated WP-CFs, FTIR spectra of the recovered materials were measured by using a Perkin Elmer Frontier spectrome ter with a universal ATR module (Diamond crystal). FTIR spectra of three random spots from each fibers sample were measured in the 4000-400 cm^-1 wavenumber range with the resolution of 4 cm^-1. All spectra were the acquisition of 4 scans with the data interval of 1 cnrr¹at the absorbance mode. At the final step, the co-added spectra were processed with ATR correction and baseline correction, and finally normalized.

Scanning Electron Microscopy

The morphology of the NADES treated and untreated WP-CFs were studied quali tatively with a scanning electron microscope (Hitachi SU 3500, Tokyo, Japan) at the acceleration voltage of 15 kV in a high vacuum condition. The NADES treated and untreated WP-CFs samples were coated with a thin layer of gold by using the Edwards Scancoat six Pirani 501 sputter coating system (Edwards High Vacuum International, Crawley, UK).

Thermogravimetric analysis

For thermogravimetric analysis, approx. 10±0.1 mg of the specimen was heated from 25°C to 900°C at a rate of 10°C/min under a nitrogen atmosphere of 40 mL/min nitrogen at a constant flow rate. Evolved gas emission (EGA) during TGA was analyzed using a mass spectrophotometer (MS 403C Aeolos Mass Spectro photometer, NETZSCFI-Geratebau GmbFI, Selb, Germany) which was coupled with TGA. The analyzed mass range was 10-110 a.m.u. The results were inter preted with N-Proteus® software (NETZSCFI-Geratebau GmbFI, Selb, Germany).

X-rav diffraction measurements

To reveal any changes in Cotton (cellulose) recovered from the NADES aided separation of cotton from polyester in WP-CFs, the crystallinity of the recovered material was analyzed with an X-ray diffraction (XRD) device (Bruker AXS D8 Ad vance X-ray diffractometer). The X-ray diffraction patterns were obtained using Cu Ka (l = 1.5418 A) at 40 kV and 40 mA in the range of 20 = 7 - 60°. To estimate the relative degree of crystallinity of the cellulose, a crystallinity index (Crl) was calculated based on the XRD patterns using the relationship given by Segal, L. et al. (1959, Text Res J. 29: 786-794) in the following Eq. (3): 100

where Crl - crystallinity index, Itot - intensity at about 20 * 22° (represents the crystalline and amorphous material), lam - intensity at the “valley” between the two main peaks at about 20 * 18° (represent the amorphous material).

Results and discussion

Figure 2 shows the steps of the schematic for WP-CFs separation process. The WP-CFs (Fig. 2a) cut into 1 x1 cm pieces and NADES treated WP-CFs (mainly polyester fraction) (Fig. 2b), and then the recovered cotton from spent NADES af ter treatment (mainly the cotton fraction) (Fig. 2c). Spent NADES after water evap oration ready for reuse and Fresh NADES before the treatment of WP-CFs (Fig. 2d).

Effect of the reaction time and NADES-WP-CFs Ratio

The effect of NADES-WP-CFs ratio on the efficiency on separation of cotton from polyester, was investigated at 120°C, for 6-hours, NADES treatment using 4 dif ferent NADES-WP-CFs ratios, from 5:1 until 20:1. Table 1 shows that there are no significant differences between the separation efficiencies regarding the different ratios. Slight difficulties to achieve complete mixture or to ensure that all of the tex tile materials were properly covered with the solvent, when the solid to solvent ra tio was low (1 :5), were overcome by rigorous shaking of the flask before the start of the treatment. These difficulties were not faced when the solid to solvent ratio increased. Thus, the need for more solvent for the treatment was considered for subsequent experiments. Flowever, there is a big change in the separation effi ciency of WP-CFs when the treatment time was only 4h at 120°C compared to the treatment time for 6h at 120°C. There was 4% less weight reduction of the WP- CFs when the treatment time was 4 h (26wt-%) while the weight reduction was 30 % when the treatment time was extended to 6h treatment using the same ratio (20:1 ratio) for both treatments. Table 1. The effect of WP-CFs/NADES ratio on the separation efficiency of WP- CFs.

Efficiency of NAPES aided separation of WP-CFs

To determine the cotton and polyester contents in blended materials, a degrada tion of cellulose to water-soluble degradation products was carried out. Conse quentially, the residual polyester remained unaffected by the acid hydrolysis and could thus be separated easily yielding reliable information on the true blend con- centration. The dry matter content can be taken into consideration when determin ing the blend concentration, since polyester tends to adsorb less moisture than cotton. Treatment times and acid concentrations were therefore adjusted in a way to ensure a complete dissolution of the cotton component. The cellulose content of the NADES treated WP-CFs is presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Efficiency of NADES aided separation of WP-CFs.

Thermoaravimetric analysis (TGA)

The TGA curves of the WP-CFs are presented in Figure 3. As shown in Figure 3, the whole decomposition process of all three blends could be divided into two parts. The first part starts at around 310°C and ends at approximately 380-390°C, corresponding to the decomposition of the cotton component in the blends, and the second part continues from there until 470-485°C, corresponding to the de composition of the polyester component. The WP-CFs had about 17% of its initial weight loss at the point when the first decomposition stage ended. The second range in the TGA diagram of the WP-CFs had a gentler downward progression and then tended to a rapid decline afterwards. More char is produced with a higher polyester content contained in the fabrics.

FT-IR Analysis of the WP-CFs before and after the NAPES treatment FT-IR spectroscopy was used to confirm the functionality of the WP-CFs, before and after the NADES treatment, and the cotton recovered from the spent NADES. The FT-IR spectra of all samples are illustrated in Figure 4. The broad band at 3300 cm^-1 attributed to the OFI absorption is very prominent in the spectra of the recovered cotton and the untreated WP-CFs indicating the presence of cotton in the untreated WP-CFs. Furthermore, the C-FI stretching frequency appeared at 2900 cm^-1, and the frequencies at 1650, 1064, and 1383 cm^-1 are attributed to the

C=0 stretching, C-O-C glycosidic bond and the bonding of CFh, respectively (Punnadiyil, R.K. et al. 2016, J. Chem Pharm. Sci. 12-16). Also, the absorbance peaks of cellulose b-glycosidic linkage were observed at 894 cm^-1, all these spec tral data reveal that the precipitated solid materials from the spent NADES have similar characteristic absorption peaks than pure cotton(cellulose), indicating the selective removal of cotton from WP-CFs by NADES treatment. The IR signal of residual polyester from the NADES treatment of WP-CFs process can be seen in two absorption bands in the range between 1150 and 1250 cm^-1, and 1715-1740 cm^-1, as well at 718 cm^-1 in Figure 4. The first band was assigned to the C-0 stretch, and the second to the C=0 stretch, both from the ester bonds in the poly ester, these are mostly present in both the untreated and the recovered solid sam ples after the NADES treatment of WP-CFs.

X-rav diffraction The crystalline structure of recovered cotton (cellulose) from the spent NADES, af ter the treatment of WP-CFs was studied by XRD. The XRD patterns is presented in Figure 5. The samples exhibited similar crystalline patterns that are typical for either native cotton or cellulose. For the XRD patterns of recovered cotton, a typi- cal cellulose I structure was defined by the reflections at 20 values of at 14.9°, 22.2° and 34.5°, corresponding to the (1 0 1), (0 0 2), and (04 0) crystallographic planes, respectively (Leppanen, K. et al. 2009, Cellulose. 16, 999-1015). The crystallinity of recovered cotton was found to be 85.32. The crystallinity index val ue is some worth high, indicating the removal of the amorphous regions after the NADES treatment. Furthermore, the crystallinity index value also suggests that the recovered cotton exhibits a high rigidity (Shi, S. et al. 2018, Waste Management. 82, 139-146; Leppanen, K. et al. 2009, Cellulose. 16, 999-1015).

Degree of Polymerization of Cotton

The effects of NADES on the DP of the recovered cotton were evaluated in the separation process of the present invention. The solubility of cellulose reduced with increasing DP, thus, this giving a clear indication why herein we did not achieve dissolution but rather separation or breakage of the bond between the dif ferent polymer types (cotton and PET) of the cellulose fraction within the WP-CFs. The DP of the recovered cotton from the NADES was 250. Mainly the crystalline area, any possible amorphous area of the cellulose, was hydrolyzed, thus de creasing the DP and yield decrease could be attained upon prolonging the pre treatment time.

Conclusion

Cotton and Polyester (PET) were successfully separated from waste polyester cot ton blended fabric (WP-CFs) by a novel method based on a DES (e.g. NADES) assisted procedure. Two pure fractions of polyester and cotton were obtained, and the obtained cotton fraction had a cellulose content and DP of 98.2% and 228, re spectively. The results presented in the examples of the present disclosure show that the method of the present invention is suitable and effective for recycling waste fabrics towards the recovery of one or more pure fractions or polymers (e.g. cotton and PET) of said fabrics. The method is suitable for different textile materi als and pure fractions of polymers can be obtained with a non-toxic solvent under mild conditions such as a low temperature and considerable time.

Claims

Claims

1. A method of separating one or more polymer fractions from a material com prising one or more textiles or fibers thereof, wherein said method comprises contacting a material comprising one or more textiles or fibers thereof with a composition comprising a deep eutectic solvent (DES) to obtain a mixture of said material and said composition, and separating a first fraction comprising polymers and/or a second fraction com prising polymers from the mixture.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the material comprising textiles or fibers thereof comprises natural, semi-synthetic and/or synthetic polymers or fibers; the material comprising textiles or fibers thereof comprises polymers or fibers selected from the list comprising or consisting of cotton, wool, linen, silk, cellulose, polyester, acrylic, elastic, polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), rayon, nylon, spandex, latex, car bon and vinyl polymers or fibers, and any combination thereof; or the material comprising textiles or fibers thereof comprises cotton and polyester, cotton and elastic, cotton and wool, or cotton or wool polymers or fibers, or any combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the polyester is selected from polyethylene ter- ephthalate (PET), poly-1 ,4-cyclohexylene-dimethylene (PCDT) and plant-based polyesters.

4. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the mixture comprises pol ymers or polymer fibers of the textile, which have been disintegrated from each other by the composition comprising DES.

5. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the material is allowed to contact with said composition comprising DES for at least 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours, or 2-25 hours or 3-10 hours.

6. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the material is allowed to contact with said composition comprising DES at a temperature of at least 60°C, 70°C, 80°C, 90°C, 100°C, 110°C, or less than 200°C, 190°C, 180°C, 170°C,

160°C, 150°C, 140°C, 130°C, 120°C, 110°C or 100°C, or about 60 to 150°C or about 90 to 150°C.

7. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the method further com prises stirring or mixing the mixture.

8. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the composition comprising DES is contacted with the material at a ratio between the composition or DES and the material from 100:1 to 2:1 by mass, or at least 5:1 by mass, 10:1 by mass, 15:1 by mass, 20:1 by mass or 30:1 by mass.

9. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein DES is selected from the group consisting of natural deep eutectic solvents, choline chloride/lactic acid, cho line chloride/acetic acid, choline chloride/sorbitol/glycerol, choline chloride/boric acid, choline chloride/formic acid, and choline chloride/guanidine hydrochloride, and any combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein DES choline chloride/lactic acid has a ratio be tween choline chloride and lactic acid from 1 :100 to 1 :4 by molar mass, or at least 1 :20 by molar mass, typically about 1 :10 by molar mass.

11. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the first fraction compris ing polymers is separated from the mixture by a filtration, centrifugal separation, decantation and/or pneumatic separation.

12. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the first fraction comprises synthetic polymers, polyester or PET when the material comprising textiles or fi bers comprises synthetic polymers, polyester or PET, respectively.

13. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein polymers or fibers of the first fraction are washed to remove residual DES.

14. The method of any of the preceding claim, wherein the yield of the polymers or fibers of the first fraction is at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99%, and/or the purity of the polymers or fibers of the first fraction is at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 95.5%, 96%, 96.5%, 97%, 97.5%, 98%, 98.5%, 99% or 99.5%.

15. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the method comprises separating a second fraction comprising polymers from the mixture optionally ob tained after separating the first fraction comprising polymers.

16. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein before separating the second fraction comprising polymers, water or another solvent is added to the mix ture, which is optionally obtained after separating the first fraction comprising pol- ymers from the mixture; or wherein water or another solvent is not added to the mixture before separating the second fraction comprising polymers.

17. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the second fraction com- prising polymers is separated by a centrifugation, gravity separation, membrane aided separation, and/or filtration, typically by a combination of a centrifugation, gravity separation or membrane aided separation, and a filtration.

18. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the second fraction com- prises natural polymers, cellulose or cotton when the material comprising textiles or fibers comprises natural polymers, cellulose or cotton.

19. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein polymers or fibers of the second fraction are washed to remove residual DES.

20. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the yield of the polymers or fibers of the second fraction is at least 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, or 90%; the purity of the polymers or fibers of the second fraction is at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 95.5%, 96%, 96.5%, 97%, 97.5%, 98%, 98.5%, 99% or 99.5%; and/or the degree of polymerization in the second fraction is at least 200, 210, 220, 230, 240 250, 260, 270, 280, 290, 300, 310, 320, 330, 340, 350, 360, 370, 380, 390 or 400, typically 200 - 600 or 200 - 500.

21. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein after separating the first and/or second fraction comprising polymers the DES is separated from the mix ture, and optionally purified, for reuse.

22. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein at least a portion of the polymers or fibers of the first and/or second fraction is directed to further pro- cessing or for use in industry.

23. A product or fraction comprising polymers or fibers, wherein said product or fraction is obtained by the method of any of claims 1 -22.

24. The product or fraction of claim 23, wherein the degree of polymerization in the product or fraction is at least 200, 210, 220, 230, 240, 250, 260, 270, 280, 290, 300, 310, 320, 330, 340, 350, 360, 370, 380, 390 or 400, typically 200 - 600 or 200 - 500.

25. The product or fraction of claim 23 or 24, wherein the yield of the polymers or fibers of the first fraction is at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99%, and/or the purity of the polymers or fi bers of the first fraction is at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 95.5%, 96%, 96.5%, 97%, 97.5%, 98%, 98.5%, 99% or 99.5%; and/or the yield of the polymers or fibers of the second fraction is at least 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, or 90%, and/or the purity of the polymers or fibers of the second fraction is at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 95.5%, 96%, 96.5%, 97%, 97.5%, 98%, 98.5%, 99% or 99.5%.

26. Use of the product or fraction of any of claims 23-25 in industry, fabric or textile industry, membrane fabrication, biorefining, hydrolysis into glucose or sugar deriv atives, production of bioethanol, production of platform chemicals, or as platform chemicals.