THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO SCALE UP A PATENT-PENDING COMPOSTING TECHNOLOGY THAT WILL PROMOTE THE US BIOECONOMY BY INCREASING THE USE OF 100% COTTON TEXTILES WHILE ALSO INCREASING THE CIRCULARITY AND OVERALL SUSTAINABILITY OF THE US COTTON INDUSTRY.THIS PROPOSAL DIRECTLY ADDRESSES TOPIC 7G, SUBTOPIC 19 WHICH REQUESTS SUBMISSIONS ON COTTON COMPOSTING. SPECIFICALLY, POST-CONSUMER, 100% COTTON TEXTILE MATERIALS WILL UNDERGO COMPOSTING WITH GASEOUS CO2 CAPTURE TO GENERATE A COMPOST PRODUCT FOR SOIL REGENERATION AND A RELATIVELY HIGH PURITY CO2 GASEOUS PRODUCT FOR UTILIZATION. THE TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN DEVELOPED AND OPTIMIZED IN THE LAB OF PD SAGUES AT 0.5L AND 25L SCALES USING A MIXTURE OF TEXTILE WASTE AND FOOD WASTE. IN THE PROPOSED PROJECT, WE WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF NC STATE UNIVERSITY'S PERMITTED COMPOST FACILITY BY CONSTRUCTING A NEW DEMO-SCALE 25,000L (3M X 3M X 3M) COMPOST BIOREACTOR TO DEMONSTRATE THE TECHNOLOGY AT LARGER SCALE. CO2 CAPTURED DURING THE PROJECT WILL BE UTILIZED BY OUR INDUSTRIAL PARTNER SUNROCK BY TREATING ALKALINE WASTEWATER FROM THEIR BUTNER QUARRY NORTH OF DURHAM NC. COTTON INCORPORATED PROVIDED THE INITIAL SEED FUNDING TO PROVE THIS COMPOSTING TECHNOLOGY AT THE LAB AND PILOT SCALES AND IS COMMITTED TO PROVIDING SUPPORT DURING SCALE-UP IN THE FORM OF TEXTILE WASTE SUPPLY AND GENERAL CONSULTING. THE PRIMARY COMPOSTING VARIABLES THAT WILL BE ASSESSED INCLUDE DYE TYPE, TEXTILE MASS LOADING, AND PARTICLE SIZE.