The TextileMission is a joint project consisting of companies from the sporting goods, washing machine and detergent industries, as well as research and environmental protection organizations, and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the funding priority "Plastics in the environment, sources, sinks, solutions.'' The project was launched in September 2017 and is tendered until March 2021.
Plastic plays a major role in our everyday lives and yet we are often unaware of the scale of the problems it causes. The large amount of plastic produced leads to an enormous amount of waste, as plastic generally has poor biodegradability. This leads to plastic waste ending up not only in landfills, but in large part in the ocean in terms of the environment.
A major problem has been identified in microplastics, as their size (<5mm) means they are ingested by all organisms, for example fish, and therefore end up in the food chain.
In this case, we will mainly focus on the formation and distribution of textile microplastics, which is increasingly arising from the production of synthetic textiles and the household washing of these.
60%-95% of all microplastic particles can be filtered out of wastewater by wastewater treatment plants.Despite these filtering processes within wastewater treatment plants, a significant amount of microplastic remains in the treated water and is then further flushed into the environment.
Due to a lack of knowledge on the total amount of microplastic and the corresponding input pathways, the degree of the problem has not yet been precisely determined. This is why the "TextileMission" project was launched.
The aim of this project is to reduce the environmental pollution caused by microplastics generated in the course of household laundry. To this end, various research approaches are being pursued:
The Hochschule Niederrhein is one of nine project partners of the "TextileMission". The contact persons are the following professors of the university:
Webschulstr. 31
Webschulstr. 31
Microplastics
Microplastics are not to be confused with microfibers (technological fibers with a diameter between 3-10µm). Microplastics are particles with a diameter of less than 5mm and are produced, for example, by tire abrasion, disintegrating packaging materials, detachment of paint particles and also during washing, e.g. of household laundry or during the industrial production of textiles (finishing of textiles).
Textile microplastics are fibers with different diameters and a length of less than 5mm that detach from synthetic textiles, for example during household washing. They pose a particular problem because their nature makes them difficult to filter.
In order to determine the extent of the microplastic problem in household laundry, a status quo analysis was carried out, involving over 850 cycles of household laundry, with sports and outdoor articles from the project partners. This involved filtering 55,000 liters of water after the wash cycle and collecting data from over 2250 hours.
The collected data was analyzed for the amount and size of microplastic filtered.
The washing tests also aim to optimize the washing processes; for example, it was found that microplastic discharge is reduced when the loading volume of the machine is increased (recommended).
Results
Polyester is considered to be a material with one of the highest microplastic emissions, which is why this material is being investigated in more detail as part of the project at the Hochschule Niederrhein. One focus is on nonwoven materials, as they have a special roughened surface that is destroyed by a lot of mechanics.
At the moment, work is being done on the new development of a polyester nonwoven. In the course of this, yarn tests are being carried out and the combination of different materials is being tested on a large circular knitting machine.
Here, the solution approach of reducing fiber loss is being pursued, as this represents the most sustainable option at the present time of research.
Another research approach is the biodegradability of the material viscose. Although this is a synthetic material, it consists of the natural basis of cellulose, with wood being used as the starting product.
This material can be degraded under the optimal conditions of a laboratory wastewater treatment plant, although it cannot be concluded that it will also degrade in the ocean, for example.
Research is also being conducted into alternative cutting and joining technologies, such as ultrasonic welding. This is a clean technology that does not create open cut edges and does not require additional materials.
A quick test is being developed in collaboration with EURATEX and international research institutes that can be used to quickly compare the plastic emissions of textiles under laboratory conditions. This will make it easier to reduce microplastic emissions from textiles.
The Week of the Environment is an initiative of the German President and is organized in cooperation with the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU).
The event is scheduled to take place in spring 2021 (exact date to be announced), as it unfortunately could not take place in June last year due to Covid-19.
As with the five previous "Weeks of the Environment", it will take place in the park of Bellevue Palace in Berlin and is open to all interested visitors, as well as to the invited professional audience.
You can expect an extensive program of discussions and expert forums, as well as the Ecologic Institute, which will present the core research areas "Plastics in the Environment". First scientific results and solution options of the research fields from 20 collaborative projects will be presented, including the collaborative project "TextileMission".
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