Novel Hollow Fiber Air Filters for the Removal of Ultrafine Particles in PM2.5 with Repetitive Usage Capability

Manqing Li, Yingnan Feng, Kaiyu Wang, Wai Fen Yong, Liya Yu, Tai Shung Chung*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

70 Scopus citations

Abstract

Severe air pollution has become a global concern, and there is a pressing need to develop effective and efficient air filters for removing airborne particulate matters (PMs). In this work, a highly permeable poly(ether sulfone) (PES) based hollow fiber membrane was developed via a one-step dry-jet wet spinning. For the first time, a hollow fiber membrane was used in removing the ultrafine particles (PMs with aerodynamic equivalent diameters of less than 100 nm) in PM2.5. The novel air filter was designed to possess the synergistic advantages of porous filters and fibrous filters with a sievelike outer surface and a fibrouslike porous substrate. A filtration efficiency of higher than 99.995% could be easily achieved when the self-support hollow fiber was challenged with less than 300 nm particulates. Without losses of the structural advantages, we have demonstrated that the permeation properties of the hollow fiber membrane can be facilely tailored via manipulation of the dope and bore fluid formulations. Various cleaning strategies were explored to regenerate the membrane performance after fouling. Both water rinse and backwash showed effectiveness to restore the membrane permeance for repetitive usage.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)10041-10049
Number of pages9
JournalEnvironmental Science and Technology
Volume51
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 5 2017
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • Environmental Chemistry

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