Fiber- Based Bioreactor Media for Air Pollution Control

Polluted air and water treatment by bioconversion/biofiltration is a large, rapidly growing industry that presently does not involve many textile products. Unlike pollution control methods based on regular filter media, bioconversion does not require disposal of contaminated used-up filter media. Moreover, higher environmental costs of current practices drive the pollution control equipment/media suppliers to shift their focus toward the more compact, high surface area fiber-based bioconversion media. Our research on textiles and fiber coated biofiltration surfaces will lead to opening a new applications area for fiber/textile products. The U. S. fiber and electro-fiber coating (flocking) industry will greatly benefit from this basic research of the proposed fiber based bioconversion surfaces by supplying more fiber and flock products to the potential market. Our research will provide opportunities for developing a new generation of water and air biofiltration media with high specific surface area. Our findings shall provide the US fiber, fiber finishes and fabric producers with basic knowledge on how to form textile based biofiltration surfaces using electrostatic principles. This work will also provide direction on how to engineer the fabric with predetermined geometry and hence predetermined bioconversion properties.