Textile microfibers reaching aquatic environments: A new estimation approach

Belzagui, Francisco; Gutiérrez‐Bouzán, Carmen; Álvarez-Sánchez, Antonio; Vilaseca, Mercedes

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114889

Cited by 58 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…7 Similar conclusions were drawn for freshwaters by a recent modeling study, indicating that clothing ranked as the second largest source of all microplastics to Swiss freshwaters. 8 It is estimated that about 0.17 to 0.28 million tons of MPFs reaches the aquatic system annually 9,10 and the emission is expected to continue to grow in the future. 10 The occurrence of microplastics has been detected in atmospheric fallout, 3 rain, 11 and household dust.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation of Fiber Fragments during Abrasion of Polyester Textiles

Cai

Mitrano

Hufenus

et al. 2021

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Fiber fragments are one of the dominant types of microplastics in environmental samples, suggesting that synthetic textiles are a potential source of microplastics to the environment. Whereas the release of microplastics during washing of textiles is already well studied, much less is known about the release during abrasion processes. The abrasion of textiles may induce fibrillation of fibers and therefore result in the formation of much finer fiber fragments. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of abrasion of synthetic textiles on the formation of microplastic fibers and fibrils. Fleece and interlock textile swatches made of polyester were abraded using abrasion tests with a Martindale tester. The microplastic fibers and fibrils formed during abrasion were extracted from the textiles and characterized in terms of number, length, and diameter. The microplastic fibers demonstrated the same diameter than the fibers found in the textiles (fleece: 12.3 μm; interlock: 12.7 μm), while fibrils with a much smaller diameter (fleece: 2.4 μm; interlock: 4.9 μm) were also found. The number of fibrils formed during abrasion in both textiles was higher than the number of microplastic fibers. The majority of the extracted microplastic fibers had a length between 200 and 800 μm, while most fibrils were between 30 and 150 μm, forming two distinct fiber fragment morphologies. The number of microplastic fibers formed during abrasion was 5 to 30 times higher than the number of microplastic fibers that could be extracted from non-abraded samples. The number of fibrils increased after abrasion by more than a factor of 200 for both fabric types. The fibrils formed during abrasion have diameters that fall within the inhalable size for airborne particles. The potential release of fibrils into air during wear of textiles thus raises questions about the human exposure to these materials. Since the Martindale tester can simulate a daily application scenario of textiles over a prolonged period only in a limited way, future studies are needed to establish the correlation between the test results with a real-world scenario.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation of Fiber Fragments during Abrasion of Polyester Textiles

Cai

Mitrano

Hufenus

et al. 2021

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…Another recent study predicts a microplastic count of 1.3 × 10 12 particles for the North Atlantic basin (i.e., approximately 18 × 10 3 tons) and 23.6 × 10 4 tons of microplastics in the oceans globally, where small microfibers are not included (van Sebille et al, 2015). A similar amount of 28 × 10 4 tons of MF has been estimated to reach the aquatic environment (Belzagui et al, 2020). For comparison Suaria et al, 2020 reported 9 × 10 4 to 38 × 10 4 tons of fibers in the top meter of the world's oceans, underlining the large contribution of MF to global emissions, while knowledge gaps remain, and hazard assessments are lacking (Suaria, et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Microplastic Fiber Emissions From Wastewater Effluents: Abundance, Transport Behavior and Exposure Risk for Biota in an Arctic Fjord

Herzke

Ghaffari

Sundet

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Microfibers (MF) are one of the major classes of microplastic found in the marine environment on a global scale. Very little is known about how they move and distribute from point sources such as wastewater effluents into the ocean. We chose Adventfjorden near the settlement of Longyearbyen on the Arctic Svalbard archipelago as a case study to investigate how microfibers emitted with untreated wastewater will distribute in the fjord, both on a spatial and temporal scale. Fiber abundance in the effluent was estimated from wastewater samples taken during two one-week periods in June and September 2017. Large emissions of MFs were detected, similar in scale to a modern WWTP serving 1.3 million people and providing evidence of the importance of untreated wastewater from small settlements as major local sources for MF emissions in the Arctic. Fiber movement and distribution in the fjord mapped using an online-coupled hydrodynamic-drift model (FVCOM-FABM). For parameterizing a wider spectrum of fibers from synthetic to wool, four different density classes of MFs, i.e., buoyant, neutral, sinking, and fast sinking fibers are introduced to the modeling framework. The results clearly show that fiber class has a large impact on the fiber distributions. Light fibers remained in the surface layers and left the fjord quickly with outgoing currents, while heavy fibers mostly sank to the bottom and deposited in the inner parts of the fjord and along the northern shore. A number of accumulation sites were identified within the fjord. The southern shore, in contrast, was much less affected, with low fiber concentrations throughout the modeling period. Fiber distributions were then compared with published pelagic and benthic fauna distributions in different seasons at selected stations around the fjord. The ratios of fibers to organisms showed a very wide range, indicating hot spots of encounter risk for pelagic and benthic biota. This approach, in combination with in-situ ground-truthing, can be instrumental in understanding microplastic pathways and fate in fjord systems and coastal areas and help authorities develop monitoring and mitigation strategies for microfiber and microplastic pollution in their local waters.

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“… 54 Challenges with the leakage of microfibers exist because in many areas municipal water is discharged into the environment without any treatment procedures. 55 In fact, estimates made by the United Nations suggest that as much as 80% of global wastewater remains untreated once released back into the environment. 56 As global development continues, a growing number of people will have access to proper sanitation, meaning that the volume of wastewater will increase.…”

Section: Distribution Of Plastics Into Marine Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%