Fabrication of electrospun membranes for air sampling applications: A statistical optimization approach

Amin Khalilinejad; Elham Akhlaghi Pirposhteh; Mohammad Javad Jafari; Mohadese Farhangian; Elaheh Tavakol; Somayeh Farhang Dehghan

doi:10.18502/japh.v7i1.8917

Amin Khalilinejad Department of Occupational Health and Safety at Work, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Elham Akhlaghi Pirposhteh Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Javad Jafari Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Center (SPIPRC), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mohadese Farhangian Department of Occupational Health and Safety at Work, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Elaheh Tavakol Department of Occupational Health and Safety at Work, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Somayeh Farhang Dehghan Environmental and Occupational Hazards Control Research Center, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/japh.v7i1.8917

Keywords: Optimization; Electrospinning; Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) membranes; Crystalline silica; Air sampling

Abstract

Introduction: The applicability of Nanofiber (NF) membranes in air sampling of pollutants for the purpose of determining the airborne concentration has received little attention around the world. The present study aims to optimize the fabrication of NF membrane for the of air sampling application.

Materials and methods: The polyvinyl chloride NF membranes were fabricated using needle-based solution electrospinning technique. The experimental design was prepared by Design-Expert v7.0 and data analysis was done by Central Composite Design (CCD) base on Response Surface Methodology (RSM) technique. The ability of the fabricated membranes in air sampling applications was performed by sampling of airborne crystalline silica by them using the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH7602) method and then comparing with the commercial PVC membranes.

Results: The fabricated NF membranes had a mean porosity of 31.60% compared to a porosity of 25.1% in the case of commercial Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) membranes. The electrospun NF membranes had mean pressure drop of 194.23 Pa, which is lower than the 204 Pa pressure drop of commercial PVC filters. The mean concentration of silica sampled by the electrospun NF membrane was 0.14 mg/m³ while this was 0.03 mg/m³ for commercial PVC membrane. The difference concentration of crystalline silica sampled by NF and commercial PVC membranes had the strongest relationship with the electrospinning solution concentration (r=-0.785, p>0.05).

Conclusion: The NF membrane has high performance in sampling the crystalline silica dust from the air stream compared to commercial PVC membranes.