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Microfibers in the Riverine Environment

Global NEST International Conference on Environmental Science & Technology 2025 Score: 38 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Gyula Záray, Davaakhuu Tserendorj, Magdolna Petrics, Sirat Sandil, Ágnes Károly, Péter Dobosy

Summary

This review examines microfiber contamination in riverine environments, distinguishing cellulose-based natural fibers from petroleum-based artificial fibers originating from wastewater treatment plants and atmospheric deposition, highlighting their slow degradation, long residence times, and comparable harmful effects on zooplankton such as cladocerans, rotifers, and copepods.

Study Type Environmental

Both the cellulose-based (CB) natural and petroleum-based (PB) artificial microfibers originating from wastewater treatment plants and atmospheric deposition are characteristic contaminants in the riverine environ-ment. Due to their extremely slow degradation and long resident time, the research interest is focused first of all on the PB-microfibers. However, if we consider the simi-lar harmful effect of the ingested natural or artificial mi-crofibers on the microorganisms, first of all on the zoo-planktons (e.g. cladocerans, rotifers, copepods) and the fact, that the biodegradation of CB-microfibers also needs a few months or half a year, it is evident that both type of these contaminants have negative effect on the aquatic ecosystem. Namely, the endangered zooplank-tons form the base of the aquatic food web and its stabil-ity is threated by the ingested microfibers. Our investiga-tions in this topic were focused at first on the microfiber emission of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Budapest studying the microplastic and microfiber con-centrations in the effluent.

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