Effect of particle-fiber friction coefficient on ultrafine aerosol particles clogging in nanofiber based filter

Abstract

Realistic SEM image based 3D filter model considering transition/free molecular flow regime, Brownian diffusion, aerodynamic slip, particle-fiber and particle-particle interactions together with a novel Euclidian distance map based methodology for the pressure drop calculation has been utilized for a polyurethane nanofiber based filter prepared via electrospinning process in order to more deeply understand the effect of particle-fiber friction coefficient on filter clogging and basic filter characteristics. Based on the performed theoretical analysis, it has been revealed that the increase in the fiber-particle friction coefficient causes, firstly, more weaker particle penetration in the filter, creation of dense top layers and generation of higher pressure drop (surface filtration) in comparison with lower particle-fiber friction coefficient filter for which deeper particle penetration takes place (depth filtration), secondly, higher filtration efficiency, thirdly, higher quality factor and finally, higher quality factor sensitivity to the increased collected particle mass. Moreover, it has been revealed that even if the particle-fiber friction coefficient is different, the cake morphology is very similar.