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How Can cotton be converted to alcohol?
If cotton clothing is collected in great quantities can it be converted to alcohol? Is there a better use for it. Jeans, t shirts and other used clothing is sitting around all over the world.
1 Answer
- ĐάνίĐLv 41 decade agoFavorite Answer
Sure it could, but it would be pretty cost inefficient. Cotton, is mostly made up of cellulose, a tough fiber found in plant cell walls that is indigestible to humans. We only use it as a fiber to aid in digestion.
However, there are ways you could convert cotton into alcohol, but you would need a specific enzyme to perform this. An enzyme called cellulases are needed to break the cellulose down into glucose and xylose, and also you need to use yeast and other microorganisms to ferment those sugars into ethanol.
All in all, the process takes a pretty long time, and costs a hell of a lot of money. So a better idea would probably be to donate to the salvation army, I'm sure they would make use of discarded clothing.
