Importance of Water-Volume on the Release of Microplastic Fibers from Laundry

作者：Max R. Kelly, Neil J. Lant, Martyn Kurr, James Grant Burgess · 发表于：Environmental Science & Technology · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1021/acs.est.9b03022 · 被引用次数：240 · 研究领域：Microplastics and Plastic Pollution、Recycling and Waste Management Techniques、Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Technologies

The influence of laundry washing parameters on the release of microfibers (MF) from polyester textiles was studied. These fibers are an important type of microplastic pollution. However, the factors which affect MF release during laundry are poorly understood and more rigorous methods for quantifying this release are needed. A novel method was therefore developed using a tergotometer with eight 1000 mL washing vessels and the CIELab color space measure of lightness ( L *). L * was related to the mass of released MFs by creating a calibration curve to quantify the amounts of MFs released from textiles during washing. This method was used to investigate the effect of water-volume, agitation, temperature, and duration of the wash on MF release. Counterintuitively, increased water-volume, characteristic of European “delicate” cycles, resulted in the greatest release of MFs. Full-scale testing was then carried out using domestic washing machines with real consumer cycles to determine the effect of cycle type on MF release. In the first wash, delicate wash cycles released 800 000 more MFs (94 mg/kg) per wash than a lower water-volume standard wash and also increased MF release in subsequent washing cycles ( P < 0.05). These results indicate that a high water-volume-to-fabric ratio is the most influential factor for MF release, rather than agitation as previously thought. Therefore, consumers can reduce MF release by avoiding high water-volume washes (delicate cycles), transitioning...