Abstract
The utilization of polymer waste in nanofiber membranes is still limited. This study successfully fabricated nanofiber membranes for air filtration using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) waste through electrospinning. The feed solution properties were observed by measuring viscosity and conductivity parameters at varying concentrations of PVC 10–30%, which, indeed, the concentration of PVC greatly affects the microstructure. The smallest fiber diameter was obtained with the addition of 10% PVC. However, it was found that the fiber has beads. Furthermore, the fiber diameter increased with a higher concentration of PVC without the formation of beads, in particular for the PVC concentration > 20%. The ultimate tensile strength was 3.36, 3.97, and 3.67 MPa for 20, 25, and 30% of PVC, respectively. Due to the PVC hydrophobic nature (contact angle value of 100–120°), the PVC waste nanofiber successfully reached the filtration efficiency of 94.35% for PM2.5 and 94.60% for PM0.3 filtration, with a relatively low-pressure drop of 119.12 Pa for fiber membrane with 20% of PVC waste. It implies that the quality factor (QF) is comparable to that of pure-polymer nanofibers or commercial air filters. Thus, the utilization of PVC waste-based nanofiber holds great promise for advancing air filtration systems.
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