Dawid Stawski

Lodz University of Technology, Institute of Material Science of Textiles and Polymer Composites, Poland

Title: Biodegradable Textile Materials

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Biography

Dawid Stawski in the years 1995-2000 studied at the Textile Faculty of the Lodz University of Technology. In 2004 he defended his doctoral dissertation entitled "Modifications of unsaturated starch esters with amines and thiols". Since 2004 he has been working as an adjunct, in the Department of Physical Chemistry of Polymers. In 2012, he obtained the habilitation degree as a result of a positively conducted dissertation (a monograph entitled: "Advanced Analysis of the Surface of Polypropylene Fibers in Flat Textile Products Modified with Polyelectrolyte Nanolayers”). His scientific interests focus on issues related to thermal analysis, chemical modification of polymers and the use of the layer-by-layer method for textile modification. The current scientific achievements, in which he described the results of his research, include 55 articles in international peer-reviewed journals including three chapters in scientific monographs, and he made 66 presentations at scientific conferences. Since 2021 he a full professor at the Lodz University of Technology.

Abstract

In 1950, the earth's population was 2.5 billion, and since then it has grown at a rate of 1-2 percent per year, gaining billion of more people every 13 years since the mid-1970s. According to the United Nations' forecasts, by 2060 the world's population will exceed 10 billion people. The increase in the world's population has been observed since the mid-18th century and is one of the factors causing the global increase in the demand for various types of resources. Humanity's demand for textiles is increasing even faster than the population growth, which is associated with an improvement in the quality and expected average standard of living. Satisfying these needs has long been impossible with the use of natural fibers. Therefore, synthetic polymer fibers are used, which are not biodegradable and often come from petroleum sources. Taking into account the low cost of production and the relatively short life cycle of textiles, synthetic fibers are the source of a significant percentage of waste with a degradation period of decades. However, synthetic fibers have a number of advantages, such as: low price, ease and short production time, the possibility of customization, or good mechanical properties, good durability and resistance to microorganisms. An additional argument for increasing the scale of production of synthetic fibers is the fact that, unlike natural fibers, they do not compete with food for arable land. Food will always take priority over textile production, so the areas that can be used for fiber production will decrease and the cost of their production will increase. Either we will produce good quality, cheap and non-biodegradable synthetic fibers in factories, or natural fibers in agricultural areas by competing with food. What is the solution to this dilemma? The use of biodegradable synthetic raw materials for the production of fibers in factories. This is the future of the textile sector. This type of materials will be discussed in this presentation.