Investigation of next generation biobased leather using cotton plant derived materials

Abstract: Sustainability concerns in any field of industrial production have led to the broad use of natural resources as raw materials. Although leather is a renewable, bio-based product, society is questioning the need of its production due to the many environmental issues during manufacturing process. The number of people, who are strongly against products of animal origin is growing every year. All of these factors pose new challenges in the development of any products from genuine leather. Therefore, since the 1950s, artificial leather has been commonly used in both industrial and commodity utilization.
The most widely used polymeric materials for production of synthetic leather are polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyurethane (PU). However, nowadays, the use of these synthetic alternatives does not meet sustainability considerations, since they consist of completely fossil-based materials. As a result, extensive research is being conducted to implement renewable materials in the manufacturing of artificial leather.
This study aimed to perform initial investigations for the development of new generation artificial leather from a natural feedstock, namely cottonseed oil. The plant oil-based leather was prepared similarly to the known three-layer structured traditional synthetic leather. Epoxidized cottonseed oil (ECO) was used as main material for the fabrication of two polymeric layers of the leather, whereas the third layer was composed of a cotton fabric. The prepared cottonseed oil-based leather prototypes possess flexibility and softness similar to the traditional artificial leather.