Cotton’s Sustainable Industrial Applications Highlighted During STEM Night Event

By Dr. Seshadri Ramkumar|March 1, 2022

For the past two decades, the Nonwovens & Advanced Materials Laboratory at Texas Tech University has focused on research, education, and outreach related to cotton-based technical textile products.

As part of the outreach effort, some of cotton’s sustainable industrial applications were demonstrated during a recent STEM Night event at Lubbock’s Ramirez Elementary School, which was attended by many elementary school children and their parents.

Aditya Ritvik, a fifth grader at Roscoe Wilson Elementary School in Lubbock, enthusiastically carried out the demonstration and witnessed the unique capability of raw cotton absorbing oil.

Mirza Khyum and Faizur Rahman, graduate students in the Nonwovens & Advanced Materials Laboratory, showcased the industrial applications of cotton such as oil soaking abilities to the audience. So far, research has resulted in the development of several commercial products such as:

FiberTect, a nonwoven decontamination wipe which can absorb toxic chemicals such as sulfur mustard
A cotton-based oil absorbent
A novel face mask concept called FISOR which combines a cotton face cover and nonwoven surgical mask with good fit to provide improved filtration and comfort.

It was exciting to see many different science and technology subjects such as wind energy, robotics, geosciences, forensics, museum studies, and more being showcased in the STEM Night event. The youngsters were certainly enthusiastic to see science in action.