PENGARUH RASIO KITOSAN/PVA TERHADAP SIFAT FISIS, SIFAT TARIK DAN EFISIENSI FILTRASI UDARA PADA MEMBRAN NANOFIBER DENGAN PVA (BM : -22000 G/MOL)

Nanofiber membrane is made from a mixture of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) and Chitosan
has excellent properties including: biocompatible, biodegradable, and anti-bacterial, making
it a suitable material for the manufacture of air filter membrane. Research on the manufacture
of PVA-based nanofiber membrane for air filtration application had been done. However, data
on the efficiency of Chitosan/PVA nanofiber membrane for air filtration application had not
been reported. Therefore, this study aims to determine the effect of addition of chitosan to the
conductivity of the solution, tensile strength and efficiency of chitosan/PVA nanofiber
membrane for air filtration application.
The manufacture of nanofiber membrane was begun by adding as much as 0%, 20%,
30% and 40% of chitosan into the PVA (w/w) solution to obtain chitosan/PVA solution. The
chitosan/PVA solution was made into nanofiber membrane using Electrospinning G-01 with
parameters: voltage was 15 kV, distance from the syringe tip to the collector was 13 cm, and
the inner diameter of the syringe needle was 0.8 mm. Testing the physical properties
(conductivity) of the chitosan/PVA solution was done using a conductometer. The morphology
of the fiber was formed and was characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and
tensile properties using Universal Testing Machine (UTM). Furthermore, testing of air
filtration was done to 20% chitosan/PVA nanofiber membrane with the thickness variation of
20cm, 35cm, and 45cm using a cigarette smoke filter with particulate filtered media (PM2.5)
on cigarette smoke.
The results showed the conductivity of the solution increased with as amount of
chitosan increased, the nanofiber diameter and the tensile strength of the membrane decreased
with the addition of 20%, 30%, and 40% chitosan. The value of air filtration efficiency
increased with increasing thickness of membrane. From the result of the air filtration test, the
membrane with thickness of 45cm can filter 85.79% particulates (PM2.5) on cigarette smoke.
Based on the test data, it can be concluded that the chitosan/PVA nanofiber membrane was
efficient to be used as an air filter material.