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Textile Fibre Fragments in Marine Environments and their Interaction with Suspended Hydrocarbons
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- Author / Creator
- Arredondo Campos, Oscar Rene
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Pollution by microplastics is one of the biggest current environmental problems, due to the great amount of plastic waste that is used worldwide, as well as the threat they represent to fauna that might ingest them, particularly in aquatic environments. One of the main sources of microplastics, is the shedding of synthetic fibre garments during laundering. The impact of these particles relies not only on the internal physical damage, but also on their capacity to absorb harmful pollutants in the water systems, acting as a concentrating vector. The effectiveness of these textiles fragments to absorb different pollutants is dependant on their physical morphology as well as their fibre chemistry. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sorption capacity of four polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) pollutants by textiles fragments coming from three types of fabrics used in the textile industry. The experimental fabrics were 100% fibre content plain weave cotton, polyamide, and polyester. The selected PAHs are commonly found in by-products of fossil fuels combustion and tobacco smoke, phenanthrene, pyrene, fluoranthene and carbazole. Small fragments of each type of fabric were submerged in saturated solutions of each compound in deionized and artificial saltwater for 24 hours with gentle agitation twice per day. Aliquots of the aqueous phase was filtered and recovered via liquid-liquid extraction with dichloromethane, to be analyzed through gas chromatography – flame ionization detection.
The results showed a trend in the absorption capacity for the three fabrics. Cotton presented the lowest affinity towards the PAHs, followed by polyamide, while polyester showed the highest affinity towards them. Hydrophobic and hydrophilic sites in the fibres structure might be the main driving force that control these interaction pollutants-fibres. This work has showed that while both types of natural and synthetic textiles have the potential to absorb PAHs compounds from aquatic systems, synthetic fibres interact easier and at a higher degree with them. -
- Subjects / Keywords
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- Graduation date
- Spring 2023
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Science
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.