Investigation on the Efficient Removal of Particulate Matter (PM) with Biomass-Based Aerogel

Abstract

Biomass-based aerogel is a new promising environmentally friendly filter material to remove fine particle matter and minimize air pollution. This study aims to investigate the air filtration properties of biomassbased aerogels via tests in a transparent chamber and verification in a real room with a burning smudge stick as a the particle source. The biomass-based aerogel used in this study is made of polysaccharides, protein and waste agricultural by-product (wheat straw). The addition of wheat straw contributes to the increase of surface area and complexity of the biomass-based aerogel pore structure. Compared with other commonly used commercial filtration materials including high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter, surgical mask, regular cloth and silica aerogel, biomass-based aerogel K0.9G1.8S3.6WS1.8 shows excellent performance to remove PM 2.5 (99.50%) and PM 10 (99.40%) from the environment. When using the biomass-based aerogel, the filter core sample has a smaller volume and simpler structure than HEPA to achieve the similar filtration performance. The filtration performance of the biomass-based aerogels has been verified with a real room test. The current work demonstrates the high potential of biomass-based aerogels for infiltration application in different fields and provides an avenue to reuse agricultural byproducts.

Development of Cellulose Air Filters for Capturing Fine and Ultrafine Particles through the Valorization of Banana Cultivation Biomass Waste

“…In this context of biomass utilization, various studies have focused on developing filters using wood biomass, achieving particle retention efficiencies ranging from 70% to 97% [48] by incorporating corn proteins and nanocellulose. Other biomass combinations derived from Konjac glucomannan, gelatin, starch, and wheat straw have been successfully tested to produce filtering aerogels with efficiencies exceeding 99% in enclosure filtration studies [49]. Lignin aerogels have also been developed to achieve high particle filtration efficiencies (exceeding 99%) with low pressure loss, albeit through complex manufacturing processes [50].…”