An innovative method of separating polyester–cotton blends is claimed to have been developed by researchers at University of Copenhagen. It is a surprisingly simple way of separating the two by using a mild solvent, heat, and the addition of a common salt used by bakers.

For this process, scientists immersed polyester and cotton blended textile scraps into ethylene glycol and then added ammonium carbonate, also known as hartshorn salt, which is widely used to leaven bread. It was heated up to 160 degrees.

As a result, the cotton and polyester fibers separated into distinct layers within the obtained solution. According to the researchers, the whole process should be scalable.

Yang Yang, the lead author of the study published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemical Engineering, of the Jiwoong Lee group at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Chemistry, said, “The textile industry urgently requires a better solution to handle blended fabrics like polyester/cotton.”