The Effect Of Top-Loading Washing Operational Setting On Microplastic Fibers Released From Cloth During The Washing Process And Filtered By Filter Cloth

Abstract

Microplastics have been commonly found in wastewater, especially from laundry waste and wastewater treatment. Efforts to prevent microplastics in domestic washing activities are important so that microplastics can be removed from the source. The washing machine filters can collect most of the microplastic fibers before the water reaches the WWTP. The research carried out aimed to determine the effect of washing machine spin speed, operation time, and the intensity of repeated washing of textile materials on the microplastics released during the washing process as well as the influence of filter cloth porosity, operation time, and the intensity of repeated washing of textile materials on the filter cloth's ability in the filtering process of microplastic. There are three main stages in this research, the preparation stage, the research stage which consists of running the reactor to identify microplastics released during the washing process, running the reactor to determine the ability of the filter cloth to filter microplastics, and identifying microplastics. The data generated from the test is analyzed using a regression multiple linear. The results of identifying the amount of microplastic released from all samples had an average concentration of 281.24 particles/L and the average amount of microplastic filtered by the filter cloth was 78.8 mg/cycle. Spin speed, operation time, and washing repetition intensity simultaneously influence the released microplastics by 93.5%. The size of the filter cloth mesh, operation time, and the intensity of repeated washing simultaneously influence the filtered microplastics by 86.4%.