TITLE:
Airborne Nanoparticles Filtration by Means of Cellulose Nanofibril Based Materials
AUTHORS:
Laura Alexandrescu, Kristin Syverud, Alessia Nicosia, Gianni Santachiara, Alberto Fabrizi, Franco Belosi
KEYWORDS:
Air Filtration, Nanoparticles, Cellulose Nanofibrils
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biomaterials and Nanobiotechnology,
Vol.7 No.1,
January
6,
2016
ABSTRACT: Nanoparticles
in air are of particular concern for public health and employee exposure in
work-places. Therefore, it is very important to prepare effective filters for
their removal. In this work filters were prepared from nanocellulose,
i.e. cellulose nanofibrils (CNF). CNF was
produced using two methods giving two different qualities of CNF. One quality
had negative charges on the fibril surfaces while the other was neutral, and
had in addition thinner fibrils compared to the other qualities. Filter samples
were produced from water dispersions of CNF, by removal of the water by freeze
drying. The performance of the CNF based filters was assessed and compared with
filters based on synthetic polymer fibres. The ability to collect NaCl
particles with a broad size distribution, ranging from nanometer to micrometer
scale, was determined. CNF filters showed quality values comparable with the
synthetic polymer based filters. Filters based on both the two CNF qualities
had very good filtration efficiency for a given pressure drop across the
filter.