Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.34187/ko.74.2.1
Influence of laundry effluent stability on fibre fragments indentification
Petra Mihovilović
orcid.org/0000-0002-0399-1976
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Textile Technology, Department of Applied Chemistry
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Among various sources of microplastics, synthetic textiles are one of the main sources of fibrillar microplastics in aquatic environments. Fiber fragments (FFs) are mostly released during the washing process of textiles. The challenges associated with FFs characterization and quantification are related to the wide range of concentrations and degree of degradation. The laundry effluent samples present a particular challenge as they contain a residual component of the detergents used in washing processes, such as sufractants. In addition, surfactants promote the formation of aggregates composed of fibre fragments and inorganic components of the detergent (e.g. zeolites). These aggregates exhibit altered physico-chemical properties that lead to an underestimation of the fiber fragments number, which is a direct consequence of the entanglement of several fibre fragments. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of identifying polyethylene terephthalate fibre fragments both in water and detergent suspensions. In order to investigate the influence of solution or suspension stability on the FFs identification, the formation of aggregates was carried out with both freshly prepared but also with 5 days aged suspensions. The amount of fibre fragments in the suspensions was determined gravimetrically after membrane filtration followed by characterisation of the filter cake using an optical microscope. It was confirmed that the presence of detergents leads to aggregate formation. Furthermore, aging of the solution results in an even greater extent of aggregate formation.
Keywords
wastewaters; washing process; microplastics; fibre fragments; PET; detergents
Hrčak ID:
333042
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2025.
Visits: 120 *