Characterization of Airborne Microplastic Particles, Collected from the Textile Workplaces Environment

A global challenge of our nowadays life is dealing with micro- and nano-plastic particles (MNPs), due to wide spreading all around us, persistence over the years, and toxic character, contributing to adverse effects on human health. As one of the biggest polluters worldwide, the textile industry including mechanical and chemical processes of fibers and garments generates various contaminants in the indoor air, including “white pollutants” with micro-nano plastic particles MNPs. This paper presents some methods for the collection of airborne plastic particles, which are generated near workplaces in the Romanian textile industry that mainly process polyester (PES) / polyethylene terephthalate (PET) yarns/fibers. A GilAirPlus – unplugged, device, equipped with QuadModeSM air sampling technology, up to 1 l/min constant airflow was used for the experiments, at 2 different working times (T1-T2) corresponding to the working shifts of the day. The selective airborne MNP sampling of 1 μm and 10 μm was done using a specially designed and developed holder system, on silica (Si) filters with a pore size of 0.8 μm and a diameter of 9 mm, according to the specific procedure (SOP) of collection. The analysis of the morphological structure of the MNPs was performed using scanning microscopy (SEM) and μ-RAMAN spectroscopy methods, and it was evidenced that the particles have, in general, a spherical shape, with an average size close to 10 µm.