Recycled PET Nanofibers for Water Filtration Applications

Abstract

Water shortage is an immediate and serious threat to our world population. Inexpensive and scalable methods to clean freshwater and wastewater are in high demand. Nanofiber filtration membranes represent a next generation nonwoven filter media due to their unique properties. Polyethlyene terephthalate (PET) is often used in the packaging of water and other commonly used materials, leading to a large amount of plastic waste often with limited incentive for recycling (few value-added uses). Here, we present work in the generation of nanofiber liquid filtration membranes from PET plastic bottles and demonstrate their use in microfiltration. PET nanofiber membranes were formed via solution electrospinning with fiber diameters as low as ca. 100 nm. Filtration efficiency was tested with latex beads with sizes ranging from 30 to 2000 nm. Greater than 99% of the beads as small as 500 nm were removed using gravity filtration. To reduce biofouling, the mats were functionalized with quaternary ammonium and biguanide biocides. The biguanide functionalized mats achieved 6 log reduction for both gram negative and gram positive bacteria.

Sintered electrospun poly(ɛ‐caprolactone)–poly(ethylene terephthalate) for drug delivery

“…While electrospun fibers made of either PCL or PET alone have been reported, to our knowledge, a blend of these two polymers created by electrospinning is novel. PCL and PET have both been electrospun from 1,1,1,3,3,3‐hexafluoro‐2‐propanol (HFP) .…”

Investigating the wicking behavior of micro/nanofibrous core‐sheath PET–PAN yarn modified by dimethyl 5‐sodium sulfoisophthalate

“…Recently, many research studies are examining the use of recycled PET in the filtration devices due to the existence of some environmental concerns. 30 On the other hand, researchers have reported the use of electrospun PAN nanofibers as an efficient polymer in oil and organic separation systems. Stability at high temperatures is another advantage of PAN.…”

“…KM Player software was used to capture the wicking rise at the defined times of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,6,7,8,9,10,15,20,25,30,35,40, 45, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 130, 150, 170, 190, 220, 250, 280, and 310 s. Digimizer software was used to accurately determine the wicking heights.…”

Phase separation behavior of poly(ethylene terephthalate)/(trifluoroacetic acid/dichloromethane)/water system for wet phase inversion membrane preparation

“…On the other hand, electrospinning PET membranes are already being studied and applied in protein 8 and pesticide filtration, 9 showing that this material has potential in the field of membrane technology, including the possibility of using the recycled polymer for membrane fabrication. 10 Some of the solvents being used to produce PET spinning solutions are the hexafluoroisopropanol, 11 the trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), 12 mixtures of TFA with dichloromethane (DCM), 13 and phenol. 14 For understanding the basis of phase separation processes taking place during polymeric membrane formation by the phase inversion technique, knowledge of the equilibrium thermodynamics is quite essential.…”