Noureddine Abidi discusses his research on cotton and his recent work with plant-based polymers at the Fiber & Biopolymer Research Institute.
Welcome to Rise & Research where cutting-edge discoveries are made as accessible as your morning coffee. This monthly feature offers a closer look at the transformative research happening on our campus. Pull up a chair as we talk with faculty who are pushing boundaries while creating opportunities for the next generation.
In this installment, Jacob Gordon sits down with Noureddine Abidi to discuss the important role cotton plays in the development of plant-based materials.
Lubbock is perhaps best known for three things: Buddy Holly, Texas Tech University and the sprawling fields of cotton that surround it.
Noureddine Abidi is connected to the last two. He is the Leidigh Professor in the Department of Plant & Soil Science, associate dean for research in the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources and managing director of the Fiber & Biopolymer Research Institute (FBRI). He also was recently named interim vice president of Research & Innovation.
Abidi came to Texas Tech in 1999 as a research associate working on chemical finishes and textile chemistry. He recalls being in the lab, struggling to make a polymer and reading about cotton.
“I had never touched or even seen a cotton plant at that time,” he says. “I was really intrigued by how the ball of the plant can form into a polymer and that polymer can be shaped in a way to give us a textile product.”
This initial interest led to a postdoc that combined his background as a chemist with the physical properties of cotton.
Over nearly three decades, Abidi has innovatively explored the humble cotton to unlock structural mysteries of its fibers and engineer completely new functions from cotton cellulose. He discusses his work and the potential impact this could have on West Texas farmers.
Q: Can you talk about your first project involving cotton and how your interests have evolved over time?
A: When I came here almost 27 years ago, the very first task I worked on was cotton stickiness. Back then, the cotton was infested by whitefly honeydew – basically a fly will drop some sticky sugar on the plant, so when the farmers harvest the cotton and start ginning it, those sticky spots create problems. I looked at the chemistry of the sugars and tried to come up with a method to detect them.
When I finished that, I looked at the relationship between the chemistry of cotton fiber and its physical properties, such as length and strength. The objective of producing cotton is to sell it to a textile mill to make a product, and the best cotton is selected to produce the best products.
When we gin the fiber, about 60% is going to be either seeds or linters (short fibers). We don’t call them waste, but they are the byproducts. My recent research projects are around giving value to or upscaling the byproducts.
Q: What is it like to see your work immediately impact farmers?
A: It’s really satisfying that the research is not just staying in the lab. The research we do right now is applied research. When there is a problem, we try to find a solution that will have an immediate impact on the end user. At the time of the first project, we were able to determine why those sugars were sticking and creating problems.
We published the results and have a patent on how to measure and detect it and see if it’s going to be a problem or not. The farmers were relieved to have a way to measure it and prevent it from becoming a problem during textile processing. It has been a good 20 years, but if the problem comes back, we have a method to detect it.
Q: How did your current work on plant-based polymers get started?
A: About 10 years ago, Lubbock farmers were complaining about contamination from plastic. When cotton is harvested, it’s placed in a big module that is wrapped with plastic and weighs about 5,000 pounds. The modules are taken to the gin, broken and sometimes plastic remains as a contamination in the lint which would then be shipped to textile mills to make products.
I had an idea: What if we replace the plastic with one made from cotton cellulose, so we can wrap cotton in cotton? Then, even if fragments of this module are left in the cotton, the farmer wouldn’t have the same contamination effect.
Because cotton can’t melt, you can’t just change it to something else. It took a few years to find a solvent that could dissolve the cotton fibers and separate the cellulosic chains. What we have now is a gel that can be placed in a mold and take its shape. We even have a patent on a 3D printer using cellulose gel, so you could be printing a shape using cotton.
Q: What could using cotton to create these polymers mean for farmers?
A: We want to give more value to the cotton the farmers are growing. A farmer can put the best seed in the ground, but the plant is going to be affected by the growing environment if it’s too hot, cold or dry. If the cotton is not of good quality — meaning length, strength and so on — then it will be discounted. If we can find a use and a market for the leftover discounted cotton or the byproducts that would be great. The farmers would just need to do their regular farming practices.
LISTEN:
(Abidi discusses the potential impact applied research like his can have on farmers.)
Q: Can you talk a little about the work done at the Fiber & Biopolymer Research Institute (FBRI)?
A: FBRI was created back when Texas Tech was founded. At that time, the mission was to educate students about all segments of natural fibers. Right now, we’re just doing cotton.
FBRI is the only institution in the world where somebody can drop a bag of seed cotton at the back of the building and then get a shirt or anything else in between. We do ginning, fiber processing, fiber testing, spinning and weaving. At every stage, we have students involved. We teach courses and do research, but we also provide services to the cotton industry. When we do fiber testing, sometimes we can learn the problem the producer faces. That’s how we feed the idea into our research and create a project to try to understand what’s going on.
Q: How would you describe the role students play in your work?
A: Students are a big priority. When we bring on students for research projects, we advise them and guide them in the lab. It’s important to combine education of the highest standards with teaching them in the lab to develop them to be the next workforce. It’s very important, and that’s what we do at Texas Tech.
Q: Why do you choose to conduct your research at Texas Tech?
A: Texas Tech is a great place, but what’s really important for me is the people. The people here and in Lubbock are very nice. At every stage, I have never had any issues working with students, faculty or administrators. Someone is always here to help you. That’s what makes a really big impact. It’s people first, not just the buildings or the place.
About Noureddine Abidi
B.S. Mohamed First University (Morocco), 1991; M.S. Mohamed First University, 1992; Ph.D. University of Montpellier (France), 1996
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