Effect of fabric properties on microfiber shedding from synthetic textiles

A review of microplastic fibres: generation, transport, and vectors for metal(loid)s in terrestrial environments

“…This is thought to be due to an increased density of fibre ends per unit of surface area. 65 A higher stitch density (number of stitches per unit area) results in less fibre release, as friction between constituent fibres is increased. 65 Dalla Fontana et al (2021) 54 compared the shedding of two 100% polyester fabrics with differing constructions, and observed significantly different fibre release during conventional laundering experiments.…”

“…65 A higher stitch density (number of stitches per unit area) results in less fibre release, as friction between constituent fibres is increased. 65 Dalla Fontana et al (2021) 54 compared the shedding of two 100% polyester fabrics with differing constructions, and observed significantly different fibre release during conventional laundering experiments. Differences were attributed to the differing linear densities of the constituent fibres, which influences tensile properties, and the stitching used to finish the fabric edges.…”

“…We highlight 25 research papers, published between 2011 and 2021, that report quantitative data on fabric shedding and summarise key data in Table 1. 4,25,41,42,46–66 Quantifying the number of fibres shed from a fabric during laundering is practically difficult due to the small size and vast numbers of fibres generated, and the lack of standardised methodologies. Moreover, the fabric types and construction, reported units, laundering apparatus, laundering conditions, and fibre characterisation techniques all differ between studies, making comparison of the results difficult.…”

“…Moreover, the fabric types and construction, reported units, laundering apparatus, laundering conditions, and fibre characterisation techniques all differ between studies, making comparison of the results difficult. Hernandez et al (2017), 50 Almroth et al (2018), 42 De Falco et al (2018) 56,57 Jönsson et al (2018), 59 Zambrano et al (2019), 25 Haap et al (2019), 58 Kelly et al (2019), 61 Frost et al (2020), 48 Raja Balasaraswathi and Rathinamoorthy (2021), 65 Cai et al (2020), 52 and Özkan and Gündoğdu (2021), 63 all used standard laundry testing apparatus, while the remaining studies used commercially available washing machines to generate fibres. Fabric shedding varied from 900–110 000 fibres per garment, 4,42 although the sizes and masses of the garments were unspecified.…”

Particle Characterization of Washing Process Effluents by Laser Diffraction Technique

“…The issue of fibril release is related to different areas of research and testing because the assessment of fibre transfer is of particular importance for the impact of the textile industry on the environment. The process of washing textiles in the household is identified as a significant cause of environmental pollution, where the release of particles from textiles is mainly due to chemical and mechanical influences in the washing process [2][3][4][5][6][7]. The influence of chemistry is attributed to the detergent containing inorganic and organic substances of different solubility that, in synergy with other factors of the Sinner's circle, fulfil the tasks in washing [8].…”