Air pollution and solid pollution are considered global problems, and endanger human health mainly due to the emission of fine particulate matter released into the atmosphere and improper disposal of post-consumer plastic bottles. Therefore, it is urgent to develop filter media to effectively protect the public. The properties of plastics make them potential candidates for nanofiber mat formers due to their attractive structural and mechanical characteristics. This work aims to produce and evaluate novel PET electrospun fibers dispensed with the use of support materials to be used as filter media to remove nanoparticles from the air. The electrospinning process was carried out by changing the concentration of the polymer solution, the needle diameter, and the electrospinning processing time at two rotation speeds. The average diameters of the micro- and nanofibers of the filter media produced ranged from 3.25 μm to 0.65 μm and it was possible to conclude that, as the size of the fibers decreased, the mechanical strength increased from 3.2 to 4.5 MPa. In filtration tests, a collection efficiency of up to 99% with low-pressure drops (19.4 Pa) was obtained for nanoparticles, demonstrating high quality factor filter media, which could be applicable in gas filtration.
Keywords: air filtration; electrospinning; filter media; nanotechnology; quality factor; recycling materials.