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Impact of Chitosan Pretreatment to Reduce Microfibers Released From Synthetic Garments During Laundering
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Researchers found that pre-treating synthetic garments with chitosan—a natural biopolymer—before washing significantly reduced the number of microfibers released during laundering. Since washing synthetic clothes is one of the largest sources of microplastic pollution in waterways, chitosan treatment could be a practical way to reduce this contamination at the source.
Abstract Sewage treatment is known to be able to remove more than 90% of microplastics; nevertheless, a considerable amount of microplastics is eventually discharged into the ocean. Given that microfibers (MFs) primarily generated from the washing of synthetic clothes are the most abundant type of microplastics among various microplastics detected in the sewage treatment, it is necessary to reduce the amount of MFs entering these plants. This study aimed to reduce the amount of MFs released from the washing process by applying a chitosan pretreatment to the garments before the washing. In this study, before the chitosan pretreatment, the polyester clothes released 148 MFs/L, whereas a 95% MFs generation reduction was observed after the chitosan pretreatment using a 0.7% of chitosan solution. Other types of garments, such as polyamide and acrylic garments, were treated with a 0.7% of chitosan solution, and this resulted in the reduction of MFs generation by 48% and 49%, respectively. Therefore of the morphology analysis after the washing, chitosan coating on polyamide and acrylic were more damaged than on polyester. It suggests that the binding strength of polyamide and acrylic with chitosan were weaker than of polyester coated with chitosan. Thus, the results of this study suggest that chitosan pretreatment is a promising solution for reducing the amount of MFs generated in the laundering process.
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