Airborne emissions of microplastic fibres from domestic laundry dryers
O'Brien, Stacey; Okoffo, Elvis D.; O'Brien, Jake W.; Ribeiro, Francisca; Wang, Xianyu; Wright, Stephanie L.; Samanipour, Saer; Rauert, Cassandra; Yessenia Alajo Toapanta, Tania; Albarracin, Rizsa; Thomas, Kevin V
Journal article, Peer reviewed
Accepted version
Permanent lenke
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2764315Utgivelsesdato
2020Metadata
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- Publikasjoner fra Cristin - NIVA [2147]
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Originalversjon
Science of the Total Environment. 2020, 747, 141175. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141175Sammendrag
An emission source of microplastics into the environment is laundering synthetic textiles and clothing. Mechanical drying as a pathway for emitting microplastics, however, is poorly understood. In this study, emissions of microplastic fibres were sampled from a domestic vented dryer to assess whether mechanical drying of synthetic textiles releases microplastic fibres into the surrounding air or are captured by the inbuilt filtration system. A blue polyester fleece blanket was repeatedly washed and dried using the ‘Normal Dry’ program of a common domestic dryer operated at temperatures between 56 and 59 °C for 20 min. Microfibres in the ambient air and during operation of the dryer were sampled and analysed using microscopy for particle quantification and characterisation followed by Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Pyrolysis Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (Pyr-GC/MS) for chemical characterisation. Blue fibres averaged 6.4 ± 9.2 fibres in the room blank (0.17 ± 0.27 fibres/m3), 8.8 ± 8.5 fibres (0.05 ± 0.05 fibres/m3) in the procedural blank and 58 ± 60 (1.6 ± 1.8 fibres/m3) in the sample. This is the first study to measure airborne emissions of microplastic fibres from mechanical drying, confirming that it is an emission source of microplastic fibres into air – particularly indoor air.
Beskrivelse
Embargo until 10 December 2022.