Evaluation of bamboo pulp-based paper for air filtration

Polypropylene (PP) is a poorly degradable material, mainly used as an air filter, and causes environmental pollution; therefore, an eco-friendly filter material must be developed. In this study, bamboo pulp obtained via organosolv pulping was mixed with a low-melting-point polyester and activated carbon to produce a filter basepaper. The as-produced basepaper was an isotropic material with a similar tensile index in both machine and cross directions and could filter 100 % of paraffin oil with particles >5 μm. This basepaper exhibited filtration efficiencies of up to 88 % and 97.7 % for >1.0–3.0 and 3.0–5.0 μm A2 dust particles, respectively, exceeding those of commercial spunbond materials and demonstrating excellent filtration performance. The corresponding quality factor (QF) for the fabricated basepapers showed significant improvement, reaching up to 91 % higher than that of commercial spunbond materials. These results confirm that the fabricated basepaper has great potential as a substrate and support for eco-friendly filters.