Biodegradable CA/CPB electrospun nanofibers for efficient retention of airborne nanoparticles.

The increase of the industrialization process brought the growth of pollutant emissions into the atmosphere. At the same time, the demand for advances in aerosol filtration is evolving towards more sustainable technologies. Electrospinning is gaining notoriety, once it enables to produce polymeric nanofibers with different additives and also the obtaining of small pore sizes and fiber diameters; desirable features for air filtration materials. Therefore, this work aims to evaluate the filtration performance of cellulose acetate (CA) nanofibers and cationic surfactant cetylpyridinium bromide (CPB) produced by electrospinning technique for retention of aerosol nanoparticles. The pressure drop and collection efficiency measurements of sodium chloride (NaCl) aerosol particles (diameters from 7 to 300 nm) were performed using Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS). The average diameter of the electrospun nanofibers used was 239 nm, ranging from 113 to 398 nm. Experimental results indicated that the nanofibers showed good permeability (10-11 m2) and high-efficiency filtration for aerosol nanoparticles (about 100 %), which can include black carbon (BC) and the new coronavirus. The pressure drop was 1.8 kPa at 1.6 cm s-1, which is similar to reported for some high-efficiency nanofiber filters. In addition, it also retains BC particles present in air, which was about 90 % for 375 nm and about 60 % for the 880 nm wavelength. Finally, this research provided information for future designs of indoor air filters and filter media for facial masks with renewable, non-toxic biodegradable, and potential antibacterial characteristics. © 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citation

Daniela Sanches de Almeida, Leila Droprinchinski Martins, Edvani Curti Muniz, Anderson Paulo Rudke, Rafaela Squizzato, Alexandra Beal, Paulo Ricardo de Souza, Daniela Patrícia Freire Bonfim, Mônica Lopes Aguiar, Marcelino Luiz Gimenes. Biodegradable CA/CPB electrospun nanofibers for efficient retention of airborne nanoparticles. Process safety and environmental protection : transactions of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, Part B. 2020 Dec;144:177-185

PMID: 32834561

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