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A Janus branch filter for washing machines: Simultaneous removal of microplastics and surfactants
Summary
Engineers developed a Janus-membrane branch filter for washing machines that simultaneously removes microplastics (capturing 78–89% of dreg by weight) and surfactants from laundry wastewater in a single step. This is a promising household-scale solution to one of the largest sources of microplastic release into waterways, since synthetic textiles shed enormous quantities of plastic fibers with every wash.
Emerging pollutants, such as microplastics (MPs), are becoming a significant issue worldwide. The highest percentage of MPs released into the environment occurs through daily laundry. The average weight of dreg obtained from 5 kg of laundry was 1.26 g/kg. According to energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) analyses, the dreg consisted of MPs (78.3-89 wt%, organic elements: C/O) and alien materials (11-21.7 wt%, inorganic elements: Al/Fe/Ca, etc.). Thus, to reproduce the real environment, alien materials (FeO and CaCO) were added to various types of model MPs in the presence and absence of sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate (SDBS) to test MP removal. Hydrophobic and hydrophilic MPs were generated upon laundering, accounting for 55-59% and 41-45% of MPs, respectively. We provide a novel approach to design a laundry filter system for the simultaneous removal of SDBS and hydrophilic/hydrophobic MPs.