Table 1.
Some studies on microfibre release during laundering.
| Material(s) | Washing/drying method | Variables tested | Fibre release | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polyester (PE) | Domestic washing machine | Textile characteristics | 124–308 mg kg−1 (640 000–1500 000 fibres) | De Falco et al. (2019a) |
| PE, PE-cotton blend, acrylic | Domestic washing machine | Temperature and laundry aids | 0.27–0.46 mg kg−1 (app. 80 000 fibres) | Napper and Thompson (2016) |
| PE fleece, nylon shell | Domestic washing machine | Type and quantity of detergent, addition of surfactant | 25 and 100 mg kg−1 fibers (+and - surfactant) | O'Brien et al., 2020 |
| Fully synthetic | Domestic washing machine | Machine type, new or aged clothes | 0.3% of mass per wash (3300 mg kg−1) | Hartline et al. (2016) |
| PET fleece | Domestic washing machine and tumble dryer | Detergent and softener | 12 mg kg−1 (11 300 fibres) in wash cycles; approx 40 000 fibres in drying | Pirc et al. (2016) |
| Acetate | Domestic washing machines | Machine type, detergent | 74,816 ± 10,656 microfibers/m2 per wash (max.) | Yang et al. (2019) |
| PE | Laboratory machine (Launder-Ometer) | Temperature, detergent | 0.1–1 mg/g | Zambrano et al. (2019) |
| PE fleece | Domestic washing machine | Detergent | Cycle 1: 70 Cycle 4: 40 Cycle 8: 25 mg kg−1 |
Lant et al. (2020) |
| PE, PE fleece | Laboratory machine (Gyrowash) | Knit gauge, detergent | PE fleece: 7360 fibers/m⁻2/L⁻1 PE fabric: 87 fibers/m⁻2/L⁻1 |
Carney Almroth et al., 2018 |