Characterization of microfibers originated from the textile screen printing industry

Microplastic interactions with co-existing pollutants in water environments: Synergistic or antagonistic roles on their removal through current remediation technologies

Composite water pollution, caused by microplastics (MPs) and co-occurring pollutants, is an emerging issue that induces synergistic toxicity. Multidimensional interactions occur between MPs and co-existing pollutants in a composite system, which alter the behavior of each component, resulting in unpredictable effects on the treatment processes. However, significant gaps exist in current review papers regarding MP‒pollutant interaction mechanisms and the corresponding synergistic or antagonistic effects on their removal processes. This review comprehensively describes the latest research in composite water pollution caused by MPs and various other pollutants with different compositions and states, systematically discusses their interaction mechanisms, and critically evaluates the impact of co-existing contaminants on the treatment performance of current remediation technologies. Based on current research progress and gaps, opportunities, challenges, and perspectives for future research directions are proposed. This review highlights state-of-the-art research related to composite water pollution caused by MPs and various pollutants, which is expected to inspire new strategies for the effective removal of multiple contaminants from the aquatic environment.

Microcontaminants and microplastics in water from the textile sector: a review and a database of physicochemical properties, use in the textile process, and ecotoxicity data for detected chemicals

Microcontaminants (MCs) and microplastics (MPs) originating from the textile sector are today receiving a great deal of attention due to potential environmental concerns. Environmental pressures and impacts related to the textile system include not only the use of resources (e.g., water) but also the release of a wide variety of pollutants. This review's main objective is to highlight the presence of textile MCs and MPs in water, in their full path from textile factories (from raw materials to the final product) to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and finally to the receiving surface waters. Their environmental fate and ecotoxicity were also addressed. Overall, more than 500 compounds were found, many of which are so called "contaminants of environmental concern" such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and alkylphenol compounds. A database of physicochemical properties, ecotoxicity, and place of detection (specific textile process, WWTP, surface water or sediment) (classification by several international agencies) was compiled for the chemical detected. Preliminary risk assessment was conducted for those MCs for which the reported environmental concentrations exceeded the Predicted No Effect Concentration (PNEC). These chemicals were some nonylphenols, nonylphenol ethoxylates and organophosphate esters. Among MPs, polyester and nylon fibres were the most abundant. The highest concentration of MPs was reported in sludge (about 1.4 × 106 MPs per kg) compared to wastewater and surface water which showed MP concentrations at least two orders of magnitude lower. The role of transboundary contamination due to the release of chemicals from imported textile products was also assessed.

Plastic pollution in a special protected area for migratory birds

Plastic pollution in Special Protected Areas for Migratory Birds and Sites of Community Importance is a growing environmental concern. These areas, often designated to provide safe habitats for migratory bird species, are increasingly threatened by plastic litter. In this study, we conducted the first assessment of plastic litter, ranging from macro to microplastics, in beach sediments from two sites (Montorsoli Beach and Pylon Beach) along the coast of the Strait of Messina, a Special Protected Area, to assess beach quality and ecological risk. The selected beaches for this study are representative example of two different possible source of anthropogenic contaminations. Plastic density ranged from 1.2 pieces/m2 to 0.1 pieces/m2, Montorsoli and Pylon Beach, respectively. The most abundant plastic litter consisted of plastic pieces ranging in size from 0.5 cm to 50 cm. Several anthropogenic microparticles were identified, including Polypropylene, Polyethylene, Polyethylene terephthalate, Polytetrafluoroethylene, cotton fibers and cellulose-based materials. Montorsoli beach had a high percentage (91 %) of Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). While in Pylon beach the main polymer was cotton (49 %). Furthermore, calculated pollution indices showed that Montorsoli was very dirty compared to Pylon beach. Furthermore, the presence of PMMA pellets found at Montorsoli beach may endanger marine birds that depend on the resources of these areas, which are designated as Special Protection Areas for rare and vulnerable bird species. This baseline assessment not only provides crucial information on the current status of plastic pollution, but also offers valuable data that can be instrumental in effective regional management efforts.

The effect of feed mechanisms on the structural design of flexible antennas, and research on their material processing and applications

Flexible antennas are widely used in mobile communications, the Internet of Things, personalized medicine, aerospace, and military technologies due to their superior performance in terms of adaptability, impact resistance, high degree of freedom, miniaturization of structures, and cost-effectiveness. With excellent flexibility and portability, these antennas are now being integrated into paper, textiles, and even the human body to withstand the various mechanical stresses of daily life without compromising their performance. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the basic principles and current development of flexible antennas, systematically analyze the key performance factors of flexible antennas, such as structure, process, material, and application environment, and then discuss in detail the design structure, material selection, preparation process, and corresponding experimental validation of flexible antennas. Flexible antenna design in mobile communication, wearable devices, biomedical technology, and other fields in recent years has been emphasized. Finally, the development status of flexible antenna technology is summarized, and its future development trend and research direction are proposed.

Cleaner production evaluation system for textile industry: An empirical study from LCA perspectives

The contradiction between the rapid textile expansion and intensive energy consumption, highly environmental pollution calls for the adoption of cleaner production (CP). However, current evaluation system mainly targeted on CP at production stage, guidance and support on the life cycle assessment is still in its infancy. Meanwhile few studies brought the combination of water conservation and carbon reduction into considerations. This study compared the existing CP evaluation systems including guidelines for the whole industry, standards for textile industry and indicators for the dyeing and finishing sector by quantifying the differences of indicator score compositions. Comparisons analysis from six aspects suggested that all the evaluation systems had relevant indicators regarding "pollutant emissions". "Management", "process equipment and techniques" and "resource and energy consumption" have also been well concerned while "product characteristic" seemed to be overlooked at current stage. From the perspective of whole life cycle, the key of textile processing is the "printing and dyeing" (44.23 %) followed by "fabric manufacturing"(28.85 %) and setting (15.38 %). With regards to the environmental impacts, resources depletion gained the highest attention since their indicator scores reached up to 25.71 %, 18.47 % and 20.62 % for EMAS, ERG 2018 and HJ-1852006. Cleaner production awareness and social impact also played significant roles in ISO 14031:2021 and WMG. Subsequently, a set of new comprehensive CP evaluation indicator system was established, including 3 scopes and 7 goals. The newly-built indicator system incorporated with life cycle perspectives gave a powerful tool to measure the CP level in textile industry and of CP will benefit from water reuse and energy utilization with high efficiency.

Impact of quantification method on microfiber assessment - A comparative analysis between mass and count based methods

Microfiber from textiles is one of the new anthropogenic pollutants which attracted a wide range of researchers. Domestic laundry, being the most common cause of microfiber release from textiles, is widely studied. Studies exhibit a broad range of quantities of microfibers owing to the distinct quantification methodologies employed due to their convenience and resource availability. Out of several such estimation processes, reporting microfiber quantity in numbers or mass (mg or g) is quite common with respect to the unit area or weight of the textile used. However, results reported by different literature vary significantly. Hence, this study aims to analyze the microfiber release from knitted polyester fabric using count- and mass-based methods. Four different fabrics were used for this study with three different counting processes from literature along with direct weight difference estimation. The results of the direct counting method showed that the average microfiber release of selected fabrics is 13.28-33.16 microfibers per sq.cm, whereas, the direct weight estimation showed an average weight of 0.0664 ± 0.0289 mg/sq.cm. The subsequent conversion showed a release of 887.89 ± 633.49 microfibers/sq.cm of the fabric. Further, the microfiber mass was also estimated using the number of microfiber count and found that a sq.cm of fabric releases up to 0.0010-0.0024 mg of microfibers. While comparing the results, the weight-based estimation showed a significantly higher microfiber release (41.3-42.9 times) than the direct counting method. The deposition of surfactants in detergents, contaminants from the water, atmospheric contaminants, and finishes released from the fabric can be the sources of additional weights noted in the direct mass estimation. As the weight-based method is quite simple and the fastest way to quantify the microfibers, future studies must focus on this area to reduce the error percentage in quantification.