Table 1.
Measurement of fibre loss from domestic laundering: literature comparison (NS = not stated, N/A = not applicable)
| Author | Test Method | Temp. (°C) | Time (mins) | Agitation (no. ball bearings) | Liquor ratio | Reported microfibre release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Browne et al. 2011) | Washing machines | 40 | NS | N/A | NS | > 1900 particles/wash |
| (Dubaish and Liebezeit 2013) | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | 220–260 mg/garment/wash |
| (Karlsson 2015) | Washing machines | 40 | NS | N/A | NS | 209,000 fibres/litre |
| (Napper and Thompson 2016) | Washing machines | 30, 40 | 75 | N/A | NS |
Poly-cotton: 137,951 fibres/6 kg wash Polyester: 496,030 fibres/6 kg wash Acrylic: 728,789 fibres/6 kg wash |
| (Pirc et al. 2016) | Washing machines | 30 | 15 | N/A | NS |
11,300 particles/500 g of fabrics or 6 mg/500g fabric |
| (Hartline et al. 2016) | Washing machines | 30, 40 | 30, 48 | N/A | NS | Average 1174 mg/wash |
| (Hernandez et al. 2017) | Laboratory method | 25, 40, 60, 80 | 14, 60, 120, 240, 480 | 10 | 7:1 l/m2 | Average approx. 0.025 mg/g |
| (Sillanpää and Sainio 2017) | Washing machines | 40 | 75 | N/A | NS |
Polyester: 223,000 particles/wash or 340 mg/wash Cotton: 973,000/wash or 809 mg/wash |
| (Carney Almroth et al. 2018) | Laboratory method | 60 | 30 | 25 | 13:1 l/m2 |
Fleece: 110,000 fibres/garment/wash Knit: 900 fibres/garment/wash |
| (De Falco et al. 2018) | Laboratory method | 40, 60 | 45, 75, 90 | 0, 10, 20 | NS | Polyester: > 6,000,000 fibres/5 kg wash |
| (Jönsson et al. 2018) | Laboratory method | 40 | 60 | 25 | 5:1 l/m2 | N/A Focus on method development and validation |
| (Belzagui et al. 2019) | Washing machines | Ambient | 15 | N/A | NS |
Polyester-elastane: 175 fibres/g/wash or 30,000 fibres/m2/wash Acrylic-polyamide: 560 fibres/g/wash or 465,000 fibres/g/wash |
| (De Falco et al. 2019) | Washing machines | 40 | 107 | N/A | NS |
Polyester: 640,000–1,100,000 fibres/garment/wash Poly-cotton-modal: 1,500,000 fibres/garment/wash |
| (Haap et al. 2019) | Laboratory method | 40 | 30 | 50 | 6:1 l/m2 | N/A Focus on method development and validation |
| (Kelly et al. 2019) | Washing machines and laboratory method | 30, 15 | 60, 15 | NS | 120:1 l/m2 and 240:1 l/m2 |
Standard wash (with detergent): 663,523 fibres/kg/wash Delicate wash (with detergent): 1,474,793 fibres/kg/wash |
| (Yang et al. 2019) | Washing machines | 30,40, 60 | 15 | N/A | 17:1 l/m2 |
Acetate: up to 74,816 fibres/m2/wash Polyester: up to 72,130 fibres/m2/wash |
| (Zambrano et al. 2019) | Laboratory method | 25, 44 | 16 | 25 | 15:1 l/m2 |
Cellulose-based fabrics: 0.2–4 mg/g Polyester: 0.1–1 mg/g |
| (Cai et al. 2020) | Laboratory method | 40 | 45 | 0, 10, 20 | 37.5:1 l/m2 and 60:1 l/m2 | 210–72,000 fibres/g/wash |
| (Cesa et al. 2020) | Washing machines | 24 | 20 | N/A | NS |
49.8–307.8 mg/wash 18,400–69,600 fibres/wash |
| (Cotton et al. 2020) | Washing machines | 25, 40 | 30, 85 | N/A | NS | Increased microfibre release for 40 °C, 85 min wash compared to 25 °C, 30 min wash |
| (Dalla Fontana et al. 2020) | Washing machines | 40, 30 | 90, 43 | N/A | NS |
Delicate/silk cycle: 33.86 mg/kg Cotton cycle: 40.19 mg/kg |
| (De Falco et al. 2020) | Washing machines | 40 | 107 | None | NS |
Poly-cotton: 3898 fibres/g/wash Polyester: 709–1747 fibres/g/wash |
| (Frost et al. 2020) | Laboratory method | 20 | 16 | 25 | NS | Reduced shedding for 70% recycled polyester compared to 40% polyester (not significantly different from virgin polyester) |
| (Galvão et al. 2020) | Washing machines | 20, 30, 40, 60 | NS (automatic) | N/A | NS |
Average total MF per wash: 297,400 MF/l (83% from cotton fibres) Estimate for 6 kg wash: 18,000,000 MF/6 kg synthetic fibres 1842–6259 mf/g/wash |
| (Kärkkäinen and Sillanpää 2020) | Washing machines | 40 | 75 | N/A | NS |
First wash: 100,000–6,300,000 fibres/kg/wash Fifth wash: 19,000–190,000 fibres/kg/wash |
| (Lant et al. 2020) | Washing machines | 40, 15 | 85, 30 | N/A | NS |
Approx. 357 mg/3.13 kg wash 96% released fibres = natural (cotton, wool, viscose), 4% = synthetic (acrylic, nylon, polyester) |
| (Praveena et al. 2020) | Washing machines (household study) | Room temperature | 41–60 | N/A | NS |
0.0069–0.183 g/m3 Average: 0.068 g/m3 |
| (Celi̇k 2021) | Washing machine | 40 | 53 | N/A | NS |
3.28–3.91 mg/l/wash 13.1–15.66 mg/kg/wash |
| (Choi et al. 2021) | Washing machine | 40, 20 | 80 | N/A | NS |
Hard twist filament: 51.6 ppm Non-twist filament: 88.7 ppm Spun yarn: 107.7 ppm |
| (Dalla Fontana et al. 2021) | Washing machine | 40 | 90 | N/A | NS | 38.6–67.9 mg/kg |
| (Özkan and Gündoğdu 2021) | Laboratory method | 40 | 45 | 10 | 37.5:1 l/m2 |
Recycled polyester: 368,094 fibres/kg/wash Virgin polyester: 167,436 fibres/kg/wash |
| (Periyasamy 2021) | Washing machine | 30, 45, 60 | 60, 75, 90 | N/A | NS | 2,305,395–4,874,323 fibres/kg/wash |
| (Raja Balasaraswathi and Rathinamoorthy 2021) | Laboratory method | 30 | 45 | 10 | 6.67:1 l/m2 |
Open edge: 72.37 fibres/cm2/wash or 0.0239 mg/cm2/wash Finished edge: 18.07 fibres/cm2/wash or 0.0034 mg/cm2/wash |
| (Rathinamoorthy and Raja Balasaraswathi 2021) | Laboratory method | 30 | 45 | 5, 10, 15 |
2.22:1 l/m2, 4.44:1 l/m2, 6.67:1 l/m2, 8.89:1 l/m2 |
Machine wash: 18.06 fibres/cm2 Gentle hand wash: 17.33 fibres/cm2 Intense hand wash: 23.7 fibres/cm2 |
| (Tiffin et al. 2021) | Laboratory method | 40 | 45 | 50 | 15:1 l/m2 | N/A Focus on method development and validation |
| (Vassilenko et al. 2021) | Washing machine | 41 | 18 | NA | 136.4:1 l/kg |
8,809–> 6,877,000 fibres/wash 9.6–1240 mg/kg/wash |
| (Zambrano et al. 2021) | Laboratory method | 25 | 16 | 25 | NS |
9000-14,000 particles/g/wash Softener/durable press-treated cotton: 1.30–1.63 mg/g/wash Untreated cotton: 0.73 mg/g |