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Value Added
Yasser Gowayed, right, and research specialist Paul
Brady of Textile Engineering examine a fiber batting
made from waste carpet. The project is one of several
underway at AU to recycle waste into value added products.

Project Gives Recycling New Look

Working with three other Alabama universities, researchers at Auburn are developing ways to turn landfill waste into value-added, marketable products.
Under a multi-university grant from the National Science Foundation's Experimental Program for Stimulation of Competitive Research, AU textile engineers are working on ways to convert fibers and plastic wastes into new textile and composite materials.
The new value-added materials can be used in the construction industry, in roadway surfacing, filtration, and recreational products, says Yasser Gowayed of textile engineering.
Alabamians dump more than 5 million tons of solid waste in the state's landfills annually, says Gowayed.
"The amount grows each year, and landfill space is dramatically decreasing," he says. "Therefore, this type of research stands to have significant impacts, both economically and environmentally."
Auburn's textile and chemical engineers are focusing initially on ways to reuse carpet fibers and plastics.
"About 20 percent of the solid waste volume in landfills is plastics," Gowayed said. "We think we have developed a basic scheme for recycling post-consumer carpets."
While AU textile engineers tackle one aspect of the problem, researchers from chemical and mechanical engineering are developing techniques to convert plastics, tires and waste oils into usable fuels and developing better separation technologies for de-inking and recycling newspaper.
"Some people call these materials trash," Gowayed said. "We call it raw materials."
Joining with Auburn in the three-year, $3 million project are the University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Alabama at Huntsville and the University of South Alabama.

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