Abstract
Indoor air pollution significantly impacts human health and the environment. Humans suffer the greatest health burden due to inefficient combustion technologies and polluted fuels. Therefore, air filtration is essential for a healthy and prosperous household. This study aims to develop a sustainable approach for the fabrication of biodegradable electrospun nanofibers (ENs) as air filters from food waste materials and offer a closed-loop circular solution and potential replacement for non-biodegradable HEPA air filters. We have tested banana peel extract (BPE), eggshell membrane, chitosan, and starch blended with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) for fabricating ENs. Among the nanofibers investigated for air filtration application, BPE/PVA nanofiber shows the best performance in terms of maximum particulate matter (PM) removal efficiency and minimum pressure drop while incorporating > 50 % of the food waste into the electrospinning solution. Adding BPE into a 10 % PVA solution leads to a reduction in the hydrophilic behavior of the BPE/PVA nanofiber as compared to neat 10 % PVA ENs. The BPE/PVA nanofiber shows minimum pressure drop (156–160 Pa) and highest quality factor (Qf) in comparison with other waste-derived nanofibers with > 98 % filtration efficiency of PM2.5. Further, BPE/PVA nanofiber shows the highest adsorption of xylene vapor among other food waste derived nanofibers studied. Based on the above results, it can be concluded that BPE based nanofiber shows the best performance as air filter media among all other food waste-based ENs. The study demonstrates a successful regeneration and reuse of the BPE/PVA filter up to 3 cycles. The leftover material from banana peels after BPE extraction was utilized as a soil ameliorant. It showed 55 % soil water retention (SWR) capacity, making it possible to apply in arid regions or crops with high water requirements.
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