TY - JOUR
T1 - Biodegradable Biconstituent Melt-Blown Nonwovens for Air Filtration
T2 - Fabrication and Characterization
AU - Eticha, Andinet Kumella
AU - Akgul, Yasin
AU - Pakolpakcil, Ayben
AU - Unlu, Oguz Kagan
AU - Ahmed, Salih Birhanu
AU - Cug, Harun
AU - Kilic, Ali
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024/8
Y1 - 2024/8
N2 - Melt-blown polypropylene (PP) is extensively used in air filtration due to its low cost, low weight, and easy processing, but there are increasing environmental concerns due to its non-degradability. On the other side biodegradable polymers such as polylactic acid (PLA) present insufficient strength and limited toughness. Polymer blending is a well-known approach to reach optimum properties from at least two polymers. This study aims to produce biodegradable PP-PLA-based filter materials that possess enhanced elasticity and superior filtration performance. The addition of PLA raises the average fiber diameter (AFD), causing the PP-PLA filters to have AFD ranging from 0.73 to 0.91 μm. However, the incorporation of zinc stearate (ZnSt) decreased the melt viscosity, resulting in thinner fiber formations with AFD ranging from 0.6 to 0.75 μm for PP-PLA-ZnSt. The efficiency of the corona-charged optimized sample (double-layer 75PP-25PLA-ZnSt) showed 97.42% particle capture efficiency and filtration performance of 0.12 mmH2O−1. Despite the presence of hydrophobic surfaces in all filter materials, the addition of ZnSt further improves the resistance to surface wettability. 75PP-25PLA-ZnSt filter material exhibits high stretchability, with a maximum tensile strength of 380 ± 70 kPa. The proposed tricomponent (PP-PLA-ZnSt) approach would be used to reduce the environmental impact of non-degrading polymers. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.)
AB - Melt-blown polypropylene (PP) is extensively used in air filtration due to its low cost, low weight, and easy processing, but there are increasing environmental concerns due to its non-degradability. On the other side biodegradable polymers such as polylactic acid (PLA) present insufficient strength and limited toughness. Polymer blending is a well-known approach to reach optimum properties from at least two polymers. This study aims to produce biodegradable PP-PLA-based filter materials that possess enhanced elasticity and superior filtration performance. The addition of PLA raises the average fiber diameter (AFD), causing the PP-PLA filters to have AFD ranging from 0.73 to 0.91 μm. However, the incorporation of zinc stearate (ZnSt) decreased the melt viscosity, resulting in thinner fiber formations with AFD ranging from 0.6 to 0.75 μm for PP-PLA-ZnSt. The efficiency of the corona-charged optimized sample (double-layer 75PP-25PLA-ZnSt) showed 97.42% particle capture efficiency and filtration performance of 0.12 mmH2O−1. Despite the presence of hydrophobic surfaces in all filter materials, the addition of ZnSt further improves the resistance to surface wettability. 75PP-25PLA-ZnSt filter material exhibits high stretchability, with a maximum tensile strength of 380 ± 70 kPa. The proposed tricomponent (PP-PLA-ZnSt) approach would be used to reduce the environmental impact of non-degrading polymers. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.)
KW - Melt-blowing
KW - PM aerosol filtration
KW - Polylactic acid
KW - Polypropylene
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85199387291&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12221-024-00634-0
DO - 10.1007/s12221-024-00634-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85199387291
SN - 1229-9197
VL - 25
SP - 2855
EP - 2873
JO - Fibers and Polymers
JF - Fibers and Polymers
IS - 8
ER -