Fiber separation trial at recycling plant

This trial was designed to smdy the problans inherent in breaking down the fabrics into smaller pieces and ultimately into fibers. Approximately fifty pounds each of the white (polyester/spandex) and blue (cotton/polyester/spandex) fabrics were processed at MiU-Tex Fiber Processing Company, Millbury, Massachusetts. 

The white fabric was processed first. The materials were machine-cut into pieces of various shapes and sizes, but a typical piece was 1 cm x 8 cm. The pieces were conveyed to a condenser and then to a three-process Laroche picking machine which pulled/tore at the material. The process ran well in particular the main concern that the spandex would wrap around the cylinders proved to be unfounded. However, the output, although shredded, was not yet in a purely fibrous state, so the material was run through the pickers a second time, now with the tearing cylinders set with a closer gauge. 

The blue fabrics were processed similarly cut and then passed twice though the picking machines, with close settings for both passes. 

The outputs of both the white and blue fabric runs were  

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