Synthetic microfibers: Source, transport and their remediation

Abstract The remarkable gathering of synthetic fabric pollutants in aquatic and particularly marineenvironment is one of the key reasons that are creating stress on global ecosystems. Extensive use of synthetic outfits in the modern urban population results in increased synthetic microfibers (SMFs) generation in the environment. Domestic washing of synthetics textiles are contributing up to 35 % of the microfiber pollution in the atmosphere. Thesepollutantstogether with washing machine effluents are discharged and scattered though out the aquatic environment.Numerous scientific studies are now reporting the detrimentalimpacts of these contaminants on the aquatic food web and human health. Management of these synthetic fabric pollutants is highly essential due to their high rate of emission and ubiquitous occurrence in the nature. These microfibers after their release into domestic drainages enter the oceans via waste water treatment plant (WWTP) and river streams. Micro fiber fleeces are required to be tackled throughout the whole textile lifecycle, starting from textile industry to consumer use, collaborative approaches should be developed to prevent the pollution at source.In future organized advancements are highly desirable including evaluation and management of microfiber release at sources which will reduce the emissions into the environment. This paper provides a general idea of the sources, transmission routes, hazardous effects of microfibers, regulation and remediation strategies to deal with this aquatic pollutants, environment and precise management measures that are available for remediation of microfiber pollution.

• Publication year

  2020

• Venue

  Journal of water process engineering

• Publication date

  2020-12-01

• Fields of study

  Materials Science, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.jwpe.2020.101612
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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