Affiliation:
1. Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology
2. Indian Institute of Handloom Technology
Abstract
The influence of the clothing type, and the laundry washing parameters have a huge impact on the number of microfibers/fibers being shed during the domestic laundry trails. Distressed and damaged clothing were identified as one of the important aspects of microfiber (MFs) pollution. Although some of the factors affecting the MFs shedding are still to be explored, thus there is a need for rigorous methods of identification and quantification to understand this shedding. A novel method was adopted using different combinations of wash loads and their corresponding temperature, wash duration, and agitation on the amount of MFs being shed. Results concluded that recycled polyester fleece and distressed jeans showed heightened shedding levels (approx. 49% of total emission). When real consumer laundry was compared to laboratory laundry, consumer domestic laundry is producing 110% more MFs than the laboratory tested fabrics. High temperature and increased wash time have a positive correlation (p-value
Subject
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering,General Materials Science
Reference14 articles.
1. 1. De Bruin, R. 2007. Cotton/polyester and cotton/nylon warp knitted terry cloth : Why minority fibre content is important. Journal of Family Ecology and Consumer Sciences, 35(1), 39-46.
2. 2. Hernandez, E., Nowack, B., Mitrano, D.M. 2017. Polyester textiles as a source of microplastics from households: a mechanistic study to understand microfiber release during washing. Environmental Science & Technology, 51(12), 7036-7046.
3. 3. Napper, I.E., Thompson, R.C. 2016. Release of synthetic microplastic plastic fibres from domestic washing machines: Effects of fabric type and washing conditions. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 112(1-2), 39-45
4. 4. Yang, L., Qiao, F., Lei, K., Li, H., Kang, Y., Cui, S., An, L. 2019. Microfiber release from different fabrics during washing. Environmental Pollution, 249, 136-143.
5. 5. Kelly, M.R., Lant, N.J., Kurr, M., Burgess, J.G. 2019. Importance of Water-Volume on the Release of Microplastic Fibers from Laundry. Environmental Science & Technology, 53, 11735–11744.