Electrospun sludge extract-based nanofiber filters for enhanced indoor air quality control

Abstract

Effectively removal of particulate matter is of positive significance to human health, especially in the COVID-19-like epidemic. Electrospinning technology has proved to be an effective approach among the various strategies for particulate matter removal. In this study, sludge extract was innovatively incorporated into Polyamide 66 (PA66) nanofiber air filter to enhance the capture ability of submicron particles. After adding sludge extract, hydrophilicity was enhanced and the contents of functional groups such as -CO were increased. Under the 3 wt% concentration of sludge extract, the filtration efficiencies of PM0.3 and PM0.5 were increased to 94.74% and 95.12%, respectively, which increased 9.06% and 5.48% compared to PA66 samples. Moreover, the addition of sludge extract increased the diameter of the fibers, which enhanced the passive filtering mechanism and reduced the filtration pressure drop. This study provided the concept of “Controlling waste by waste”, which synchronously realized the utilization of sludge and the removal of submicron particles, and provides a cost-effective and biosafety solution for advanced nanomaterials with excellent performance.