New Alternatives in the Valorisation of Eucalyptus globulus By-Products for the Textile Industry

The textile industry requires products with a wide range of characteristics for use in diverse applications such as the production of shoes, bags, jackets, thermal clothing and articles for the automotive industry, among others. These products have traditionally been made from leather, which is obtained from animal hides. However, leather production has come under enormous pressure due to sustainability concerns in various areas and the growing number of people who actively choose to avoid all animal products. The main solutions developed by the textile industry have been to apply synthetic coatings based on polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polyurethane (PUR) to textile substrates. One of the ways to reduce the environmental impact and non-renewable content of artificial leather is to replace parts of the synthetic component with lignocellulosic by-products. In the present work the feasibility of using small branches and leaves of Eucalyptus globulus (BLE) as a component of an aqueous PUR formulation for coating textile products was evaluated. In addition, the possibility of obtaining functional textile products with antioxidant properties based on the BLE particles incorporation was also evaluated. The effect of the BLE particle size distribution in the PUR formulation and on the properties of the coated textile products was evaluated. The BLE particles and their size influenced the colour, appearance, hydrophobicity and mechanical properties of the coated textiles. The (BLE) particles have improved the tensile strength of textile coating products without loss of elongation, improving their properties for specific applications. Furthermore, the textiles coated with the (BLE) particles showed interesting antioxidant properties, being possible to obtain coated fabrics with five times more DPPH radical scavenging activity than the reference coated fabric without (BLE) particles.