Are we overestimate the contribution of microplastics from industrial laundry? Microplastic exploration in an industrial laundry: Quantification and eliminationShow others and affiliations
2025 (English)In: Journal of Hazardous Materials, ISSN 0304-3894, E-ISSN 1873-3336, Vol. 493, article id 138425Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Industrial laundry wastewater has emerged as a significant source of microplastic (MP) pollution, yet limited research has comprehensively investigated its contribution. This study aimed to address this gap by evaluating MP contributions from industrial laundry and examining potential MP removal technologies. We focused on an industrial laundry in Sweden and its downstream wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), introducing two full-scale pilot filtration trials—Drum filtration and Ultrafiltration (UF)—to assess MP control performance. Wastewater samples were collected from the industrial laundry both before and after Drum and UF filtration, along with WWTP sludge samples. MP extraction involved a multi-step process of enzyme digestion, oxidation, and flotation, followed by MP analysis using Focal Plane Array-micro-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FPA-μ-FTIR). Our findings confirmed that industrial laundering can be a major MP source, with polyester and smaller MPs being most prevalent. MP fragments, rather than fibers, were predominant across most samples. Both Drum and UF filters demonstrated high MP removal efficiencies of over 90 % by mass, suggesting that controlling MP source is feasible. However, a mass balance analysis revealed a substantial increase in MP contributions from the local town during both trials, which underscored that local town is another significant source of MPs.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier B.V. , 2025. Vol. 493, article id 138425
Keywords [en]
Sweden; Laundries; Microfiltration; River pollution; Ultrafiltration; Water filtration; microplastic; polyester; Down-stream; Drum and ultrafiltration filtration; Industrial laundry; Laundry wastewaters; Microplastic removal efficiency; Microplastics; MP; Removal efficiencies; Waste water treatment plants; WWTP sludge; anaerobic digestion; enzyme; industrial waste; nanoparticle; plastic; pollutant removal; sludge; ultrafiltration; wastewater treatment plant; Article; calculation; controlled study; filtration; filtration efficiency; flotation; food packaging; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; laundry; mass; microplastic pollution; oxidation; particle count; particle size; quantitative analysis; seasonal variation; sludge; ultrafiltration; waste water management; waste water treatment plant; workload; Laundering
National Category
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-78576DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.138425Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105003961455OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-78576DiVA, id: diva2:1998006
Note
Naturvårdsverket, Sweden, "Uppströms rening hos industritvatteri med avsikt att minimera utslapp av mikroplaster samt effekter hos VA-verket ", project number NV-04493-22.
2025-09-152025-09-152025-09-23Bibliographically approved