Thermal hydrolysis pretreatment for anaerobic digestion of cotton textile waste
Tharmarajah, N., Shahbaz, K., and Baroutian, S. (2026) Thermal hydrolysis pretreatment for anaerobic digestion of cotton textile waste. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 23 (5). 383.
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Abstract
Cotton textile waste is challenging to digest and convert to biogas during anaerobic digestion (AD) due to high crystallinity of cellulose. This study investigated thermal hydrolysis pretreatment (THP) at 120–200 °C for 30 and 60 min to enhance cotton biodegradability prior 21 days of mesophilic AD at a substrate-to-inoculum ratio of 0.5 volatile solids (VS) basis. THP increased cotton solubilisation up to 98% VS removal, at the most sever condition (200 °C, 60 min), crystallinity decreased by 11.84% and COD solubilisation reached 51. However, the highest methane yield was achieved under moderate conditions (140 °C, 60 min), producing 17.92 mL CH<inf>4</inf>/g VS, representing a 123% increase over untreated cotton, indicating an optimal balance between solubilisation and process inhibition. Gompertz modelling showed excellent agreement (R<sup>2</sup> ≥ 0.99), with a reduced lag phase (2.3 days) and ~2-fold higher biodegradability than untreated cotton. Digestate pH, ammonia nitrogen, and volatile fatty acid (VFA) remained within non-inhibitory ranges under the optimal THP condition, supporting stable and efficient methane production. These results identify cotton-specific THP operating conditions and demonstrate THP-AD as a pathway for valorising cotton textile waste.
| Item ID: | 91492 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1735-2630 |
| Keywords: | Anaerobic digestion, Biogas, Cotton textile waste, Methane, Thermal hydrolysis pretreatment |
| Copyright Information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Nov 2026 03:27 |
| FoR Codes: | 40 ENGINEERING > 4004 Chemical engineering > 400408 Reaction engineering (excl. nuclear reactions) @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 11 COMMERCIAL SERVICES AND TOURISM > 1101 Environmentally sustainable commercial services and tourism > 110103 Management of solid waste from commercial services and tourism @ 100% |
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