Microplastics' emissions: Microfibers’ detachment from textile garments

Belzagui, Francisco; Crespi, M.; Álvarez, Antonio Ugidos; Gutiérrez‐Bouzán, Carmen; Vilaseca, Mercedes

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2019.02.059

Cited by 196 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Studies using direct methods report values an order of magnitude lower: De Falco et al (2017) obtained mean lengths between 0.339 and 0.478 mm for different materials. These values are close to the rage from 0.2 to 0.4 mm obtained by Belzagui et al (2019) and from 0.1 to 0.8 mm obtained by Hernandez et al (2017). Moreover, Hernandez et al (2017) also concluded that the overall microplastic fiber length profile remained similar regardless of the washing conditions (with or without detergent or surfactant).…”

Section: Responsible Editor: Philippe Garriguessupporting

confidence: 84%

“…The length obtained in the present study is also 2 to 5 times lower than the values reported by De Falco et al 2017and Belzagui et al (2019), where direct (visual) counting methods were used. This seems to indicate that length characterization during direct counting methods provides a more accurate estimate of synthetic MF length.…”

Section: Synthetic Microfiber Characterizationcontrasting

confidence: 77%

“…Since synthetic clothing represented 37% on average of the total washed load (Table 1), the relation between washed synthetics and cotton is different from the relation between synthetic MF and cotton fibers being released. This results from the different shedding characteristics of different materials and the fabric construction, as previously reported in other studies (Sillanpää and Sainio 2017;Almroth et al 2018;Belzagui et al 2019;Yang et al 2019).…”

Section: Microfibers Type and Length Distributionsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…Although the existence of synthetic microfibers is known, the quantity and physical characteristics of those that are emitted by domestic textile washing are not yet fully understood. Several studies have analyzed different variables regarding their influence on microfiber release during washings, including temperature, detergents, and type of washing machine (Napper and Thompson 2016;Pirc et al 2016;De Falco et al 2017;Belzagui et al 2019;Yang et al 2019;Zambrano et al 2019), but comparison between studies is not always possible given the different methods and units used to present results. Two main methods have been used to characterize MF emissions: direct methods, where a sample of the washing water is filtered, MF are counted using microscopy, and results are expressed as the number of MF released per unit volume of washing water or per weight load of the washing machine; and indirect methods where MF are retained in a filter and their mass is calculated, to determine a release rate per garment or per unit area of fabric.…”

Section: Responsible Editor: Philippe Garriguesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An initial filtration of the raw washing water revealed a densely overlapping of fibers in the filter which prevented a proper counting. To overcome this situation, a dilution prior to filtration was adopted, similar to other studies such as Belzagui et al (2019). A 20-mL sample of each wash was collected and diluted to 1:10 to produce a final volume of 200 mL.…”

Section: Filtration Of the Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Microplastics in wastewater: microfiber emissions from common household laundry

Galvão¹,

Aleixo²,

Pablo³

et al. 2020

Environ Sci Pollut Res

105

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Microplastics are widely recognized as a category of emergent pollutants that can cause complex ecotoxicological effects. Synthetic fibers released during the washing of textiles are a relevant source of microplastics, which reach aquatic ecosystems from sewer discharges, even when there is retention in wastewater treatment plants. In this paper, we determined microfiber emissions from washing of textiles in a domestic environment, by collecting wastewater from washings of a mix of clothing from a household of 4 people. It is the first time the characterization of microplastic emission from textiles washing is performed in real household conditions. Results estimated an average emission rate of 18,000,000 synthetic microfibers for a reference load of 6 kg of synthetic fibers. Only 7% of the synthetic fibers found were larger than 500 μm in length, 40% were between 100 and 500 μm, and 53% were between 50 and 100 μm.

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Section: Responsible Editor: Philippe Garriguessupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Synthetic Microfiber Characterizationcontrasting

confidence: 77%

Section: Microfibers Type and Length Distributionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Responsible Editor: Philippe Garriguesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Filtration Of the Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Microplastics in wastewater: microfiber emissions from common household laundry

Galvão¹,

Aleixo²,

Pablo³

et al. 2020

Environ Sci Pollut Res

105

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

The Upcycling of Polyester Fabric for High‐Performance HDPE/WPET Composites via Solid‐State Drawing

Li,

Du,

Yang

2024

J of Applied Polymer Sci

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Polyester is the most widely used synthetic fiber globally. However, recycled products from waste polyester textiles (WPET) often suffer from poor performance and low value. This paper introduces solid‐state shear milling technology (S3M) to transform WPET into ultrafine fiber powder with a high aspect ratio, followed by solid‐state drawing processing producing to produce high performance HDPE/WPET composites. Compared with the pure high density, the flexural strength of WPET with 15% content increased to 24.94 MPa, while the tensile modulus and flexural modulus increased to 507 and 798 MPa, respectively, and the prestretched sheet with good performance was prepared. At a solid‐state drawing ratio of 6, the composite exhibited an impressive tensile strength of 116.8 MPa, representing a 600% increase compared to unstretched samples. Additionally, the in‐plane thermal conductivity reached 2.89 W/mK, which was 438% higher than unstretched samples. SAXS and 2D‐WAXD analyses demonstrated that high solid‐state drawing enhanced the orientation of WPET fibers and HDPE, forming an oriented structure. This led to composite crystallinity and orientation levels of 63.7% and 93%, respectively. This study has represented a novel approach to producing high‐performance functional products from dye‐containing polyester fabrics without requiring separation or physical recovery processes.

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Garment ageing in a laundry care process under household‐like conditions

et al. 2023

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This study reflects typical consumer textile washing behaviour while taking into account existing standards in the household appliance and garment industries. Two garments were washed repeatedly with artificial dirt and detergent 30 times. The collected washing water was separated using fractional filtration. Textile physical tests were used to follow property changes of the garments, the microplastic release is determined using thermoextraction/desorbtion–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and the total organic carbon was measured as a sum parameter for the organic bonded carbon. This article shows the importance of a reality‐based approach when investigating microplastics of textile origin in the laundry care process. Deposits of detergent and dirt on the textiles were detected. The total mass of sieve residues was much higher than the release of synthetic polymers. The cotton content of the garments causes a much higher fibre release than synthetic fibres. Both will lead to false results by purely gravimetric analysis because nonpolymer fibres will be included microplastic mass. The results cannot be generalised only by the main polymer type, knowledge of the textile construction must be included for final evaluation.

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Microplastics' emissions: Microfibers’ detachment from textile garments

Cited by 196 publications

References 37 publications

Microplastics in wastewater: microfiber emissions from common household laundry

Microplastics in wastewater: microfiber emissions from common household laundry

The Upcycling of Polyester Fabric for High‐Performance HDPE/WPET Composites via Solid‐State Drawing

Garment ageing in a laundry care process under household‐like conditions

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