Seeds of a sustainable transition? Investigating the properties of cattail seed hair as textile fillings and their potential for peatland management shifts in Finland

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Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Kemian tekniikan korkeakoulu | Master's thesis

Date

2023-01-24

Department

Major/Subject

Creative Sustainability

Mcode

CHEM3056

Degree programme

Master's Programme in Creative Sustainability (CS)

Language

en

Pages

53 + 3

Series

Abstract

27% of Finland is classified as peatland, proportionally making it the most peatland rich country in the European Union. Despite the valuable ecosystem services that peatlands provide, their natural balance has increasingly been disturbed due to advocation of drainage-based peatland management practices. Today, 58% of Finnish natural peatlands have been drained, turning them from carbon storages to emission sources, which accounted for 22% of national Finnish emissions in 2020. This thesis examines the impact of wet agricultural management practices, termed paludiculture, on the Finnish peatland management system. Paludiculture was found to represent a key element in transitions towards more desirable peatland futures in Finland, as it aligns with critical boundary conditions of the current peatland management system. While this conformity was found to decrease the threshold of practical adaptation, it enables the placement of fundamental critique towards drainage-based agricultural management at the core of the system. Cultivating cattail on drained under-utilised Finnish peatlands represents an effective method for promoting paludicultural practice in Finland, as it meaningfully contributes to early-stage entrepreneurial explorations and the creation of first profitable and functional wetland value chains. These developments are of crucial importance as the lack of strong paludicultural business cases and market development were identified as main obstacles in adopting paludicultural practice on drained Finnish agricultural peatlands. The thesis research explored a highly promising wet agricultural business case by investigating the performance of cattail seed hair as a textile filling alternative to down. The laboratory research indicates that cattail seed hair are suitable for specific textile filling applications. It was found that cattail seed hair absorb 70% less water than down and dry twice as fast. Compression and recovery abilities, thermal insulation and breathability performance were assessed as comparable. The fill power performance of cattail seed hair was determined at 60% less than down and is considered an obstacle for wearable textile applications. To complement the laboratory results obtained through this thesis, further research regarding fill power-inducing processing methods and analysing cattail performance over time and in relation to specific end-use cases are recommended.

Description

Supervisor

Hughes, Mark

Thesis advisor

Lång, Kristiina
Rissanen, Marja

Keywords

Finland, peatland, paludiculture, cattail, textile filling, osmankäämi

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