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Influence of Washing Conditions on Microfiber Release and Subsequent UV Degradation: A Focus on Synthetic Textiles
Summary
Researchers tested how washing conditions — including detergent type, duration, temperature, and use of a laundry ball — affect microfiber shedding from cotton, acrylic, polyester, and nylon fabrics, finding that detergent combined with longer wash cycles drove the greatest release, laundry balls increased shedding by up to 60%, and acrylic fibers were most UV-resistant while nylon and polyester degraded significantly after 150 days of UV exposure.
Microfibers from textiles have emerged as a significant pollutant, and domestic laundry is the primary contributor to microplastic pollution. The combined effects of various laundry parameters on microfiber release have not been thoroughly examined. Additionally, nylon fabric, as a type of synthetic material, and the impact of the laundry ball on microfiber release have not been previously studied. In this research microfiber released from several fabrics: cotton, acrylic, polyester, and nylon, were evaluated under a mix of different washing parameters. The combination of detergent and washing time has the greatest influence in increasing microfiber shedding. The findings show that cotton released the highest number of microfibers, averaging 617.34 ± 85.2 mg/kg per wash, while nylon released the least, with 225.12 ± 30 mg/kg per wash. Using a laundry ball during the washing process significantly increased microfiber release, with microfiber shedding rising from 10 to 60% across various fabrics. When both washing duration and temperature increase simultaneously, duration is the critical factor for MF shedding in cotton, while nylon is more sensitive to changes in temperature. Under the mixed conditions of duration and different detergent types, the results show that the maximum MFs release for all fabrics occurs at a 75-min duration when using a laundry ball. The study also revealed that acrylic fibers exhibit the least degradation under UV light, while nylon and polyester show significant degradation after 150 days of UV exposure.