Characterization of microfibers originated from the textile screen printing industry

Abstract

Textile industries are known for their higher levels of environmental impact due to their nature of processes. However, the impact of the textile manufacturing process on emerging microfiber pollution is less explored. This research focuses on analyzing the microfiber release behavior of textile fabrics during the screen printing process. The effluent released in the screen printing process was carefully collected at the point of origin and characterized for microfiber count and length. The analysis revealed a higher amount of microfiber release of 1,394,205.22 ± 426,262.50 microfibers/L of printing effluent. This result was 25 times higher than previous research that analyzed the influent of textile wastewater treatment plants. The lower water usage throughout the cleaning process was noted as the main reason for the higher concentration. Based on the total amount of textile (fabrics) processed, it was noted that the print process releases 23.10 ± 7.06 microfibers/sq.cm of fabric. The majority of identified microfibers were in the length range of 100–500 μm (61.25 %), with an average length of 519.1 μm. The use of adhesives and raw cut edges of the fabric panels were noted as the primary reason for microfiber emission, even in the absence of water. Significantly a higher amount of microfiber release was noted with the lab-scale simulation of the adhesive process. A comparative analysis of microfiber quantity with industry effluent, lab-scale simulation, and household laundry of the same fabric showed that, out of all phases, the lab-scale simulation caused higher fiber release (1156.63 ± 21.74 microfibers per sq.cm of fabric). This shows that the adhesive process during the printing process was the key reason for higher microfiber emissions. When domestic laundry and the adhesive process were compared, domestic laundry showed significantly lesser release (320.31 ± 49 microfibers/sq.cm of fabric). Though various studies have explored the impact of microfiber released from domestic laundry, the results of the current study alarm that the textile printing process is an underestimated source of microfiber release into the environment, which requires greater attention.