A critical demand has existed for the last two decades to develop environmentally friendly, and cost-effective materials to mitigate hydrophobic pollutants that directly endanger the environment and public health. Current methods to control hazardous hydrophobic dust often exploit chemical surfactants to enhance the wettability of the dust. However, conventional surfactants pose potential risks to the environment and public health due to their toxicity and small molecular mass that is capable of penetrating through human skin. Although naturally derived polymers (e.g., carboxymethyl cellulose) have been studied to mitigate hydrophobic dust (e.g., coal particles), these attempts have still not completely excluded the use of potentially hazardous surfactants or chemical additives. Therefore, finding a viable alternative that is economical and sustainable remains an elusive obstacle.<br/> <br/>Here, a newly developed cellulose blend (CB), composed of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and liquid amphiphilic polymer (LAP), synergistically enhanced the wettability of hydrophobic particles as a water additive and enlarged the average particle size as a binder. We leveraged this observation and determined the CB capability as a hydrophobic dust controlling material via air filtering performance, and mechanical vibration and wind erosion tests. The CB was easily coated on commercial filter membranes by spraying the aqueous CB formulation directly on the filters. The dried membrane increased filtration efficiency up to 95% with lower airflow resistance or better breathability than the acceptable value for an N95 mask (26.13 Pa).  Moreover, the CB was discerned as an effective agent for hydrophobic dust suppression. When the CB was applied to the surface of dust sources, composed of inhalable dust (&lt; 10 microns in diameter), dust generation against strong wind and mechanical vibration was reduced up to 90% compared to water treatment as a control. The effectiveness of CB was maximal at 0.1 w/v% HPMC and LAP due to the molecular interactions between the CB and hydrophobic dust. Overall, the fundamental concepts from the synergistic wettability and adhesiveness of the polymer blend provide not only the evidence that our design is a cost-effective, hydrophobic dust binder to mitigate air pollution, but also the preliminary results to further develop formulations for advanced dust control technology.

Amphiphilic cellulose blend binder as dust mitigating materials

ACS Spring 2022

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