THE familiar absorption of water from the air by cotton has been studied in our laboratories for some years from various aspects. The phenomena are valuable as clues for interpreting the physico ...

Researchers found they could separate blended cotton and polyester fabric using enzymes -- nature's tools for speeding chemical reactions. Ultimately, they hope their findings will lead to a more ...

DNA’s chemical structure makes it ideal for the flame-stopping job. When heated, its phosphate-containing backbone produces phosphoric acid, which chemically removes water from cotton fibers ...

The concept of hydrolizing pure cotton is nothing new per se, explains Ruuth; it was discovered in the 1800s. The difficulty has been to make the process effective, economically viable and attractive.

Flip through any chemistry textbook and you'll see drawings of the chemical structure of molecules—where individual atoms are arranged in space and how they're chemically bonded to each other.

They then undergo both mechanical and chemical processing that helps to gently separate the tightly tangled cotton fibres from each other. What remains is pure cellulose. After drying, the pulp ...