Research on the figure of merit for PVA nanofibrous membrane filters

Filter samples composed of PVA nanofibrous membrane on the cotton yarn substrates were made from electrospinning. A filtration experiment system is designed to test the filtration performances of nanofibrous filters, and filtration efficiency and pressure drop of nanofibrous filter were discussed. Compared to the conventional filter, PVA nanofibrous filtration has special advantages on the filtration efficiency. As testing time rolled around, both of filtration efficiency and the pressure drop increased, but the relationships of them isn´t symmetrically. Figure of merit Q is utilized to evaluate the overall performance of nanofibrous filters, which is a good way to represent the relationship between the filtration efficiency and the pressure drop. Experiment results show that PVA nanofibrous filters have better figure of merit compared to conventional filters. But the relationship between figure of merit Q and nanofibrous membrane thickness is not proportion. There is a maximum value in the relationship curve of figure of merit Q and PVA nanofibrous membrane thickness. It is required urgently to develop a numerical model to simulate the process of the filtration and find the relationship function.