Optimization of gelatin nanofibrous webs fabricated via electrically assisted solution blow spinning for air filtration applications

This study aims to investigate the effects of gelatin concentration, air pressure, and an electric voltage on the average fiber diameter (AFD) and average droplet area (ADA) of nanofibrous webs to obtain filters with high filtration capacity. Most of the researched synthetic polymer-based air filters cause secondary pollution to the environment when their service period is over. Thus, replacing synthetic filters with nanofiber filters fabricated from biodegradable organic waste gelatin biopolymer is the novelty of this study. Nanofibers were spun from gelatin solution using a novel method: electrically assisted solution blow spinning (ESBS). According to test results, nanofibrous webs having a large area of droplets were noticed in samples having a lower gelatin-concentrated solution. Fibers with mean diameters in the range of 93.86 ± 1.32 to 250.13 ± 3.55 nm were produced via ESBS. On the other hand, Taguchi’s ANOVA exhibited that gelatin concentration had a significant contribution of 98.27% to the variation of AFD of nanofibrous webs. It has also a notable effect of about 56.26% on the ADA of filter webs. Furthermore, an air filtration test revealed that a filtration efficiency of 90.5% for 0.3-µm particle size at the expense of 225-Pa pressure drop was noticed on G-12120. Therefore, the quality factor of the optimized nanofibrous web was 0.0105 Pa−1. According to EN 1822 filter standards, the G-12120 nanofiber filter web was categorized under E10. Finally, G-12120 nanofiber filter media are effective to be applied in air filtration applications as an alternative to commercially available synthetic-based filters.