Micro- and Nanoplastics: Release from Polyester Textiles During Washing or Abrasion and Hazard Assessment
ETH Zurich, 2022
Online
Hochschulschrift
Zugriff:
There is an undeniable occurrence of microplastics in different environmental compartments. Microplastic fibers (MPFs) are a major form of microplastics found in the environment and their physical and chemical characteristics suggest that synthetic textiles are a main source. Domestic washing of synthetic textiles was found to be an important pathway releasing MPFs into the environment. Whereas the MPF release mechanism during washing is well understood, the formation of MPFs during abrasion of textiles is less investigated. Moreover, the possible release of smaller plastic debris from textiles – nanoplastics with a size of smaller than 1000 nm – has so far not been investigated. Understanding the release and formation mechanism of nanoplastics from synthetic textiles is crucial to mitigate nanoplastic pollution. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to contribute to the understanding of the formation of microplastics and nanoplastics from synthetic textiles. In addition to the exposure assessment, a hazard assessment of the nanoplastic ecotoxicity was conducted. These endeavors pave the way for a future environmental risk assessment of nanoplastics in the environment and help to identify the key to MPF and nanoplastic mitigation strategies for the synthetic textiles industry. To study the formation of MPFs in polyester textiles during abrasion, we tested a representative set of 12 polyester textiles after abrasion tests conducted with a Martindale tester. We found that not only MPFs are generated during the abrasion process but also fibrils with diameters smaller than original fibers in the textiles (3~5 μm). We investigated the influence of rub intensity and the extractability of MPFs and fibrils from the abraded fabrics. One gram of textile released between 4,900 and 640,000 MPFs and 0 to 350,000 fibrils, showing an average fibril/MPF ratio of 0.8. On a mass basis, a maximum of 20 mg MPFs and 0.7 mg fibrils could be formed per g of textile. The first wash extracted 50~ 80% of the MPFs and fibrils. The ...
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Micro- and Nanoplastics: Release from Polyester Textiles During Washing or Abrasion and Hazard Assessment
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Yang, Tong ; 000-0002-1029-5557, id_orcid:0 ; Nowack, Bernd ; Mitrano, Denise ; Kretzschmar, Ruben |
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Veröffentlichung: | ETH Zurich, 2022 |
Medientyp: | Hochschulschrift |
DOI: | 10.3929/ethz-b-000586845 |
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