Preparation and characterization of biodegradable polylactic acid/poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) melt-blown nonwovens for oil-water separation

• Published in: Colloid and polymer science 2024, Vol.302 (1), p.43-56
• Main Authors: Yu, Jinshuo, Zhao, Tao, Li, Chentao, Pan, Hongwei, Tan, Zhiyong, Yang, Huili, Zhang, Huiliang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Complex Fluids and Microfluidics; Contact angle; Contact melting; Crystallinity; Degree of crystallinity; Elongation; Food Science; Mechanical properties; Molecular chains; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Physical Chemistry; Polylactic acid; Polymer Sciences; Separation; Soft and Granular Matter; Terephthalate; Wettability
• ISSN: 0303-402X; 1435-1536
• DOI: 10.1007/s00396-023-05169-z

In this work, polylactic acid/poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PLA/PBAT) melt-blown nonwovens with well oil-water separation properties were processed with melt-blown technology. The effects of different contents of PBAT (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 wt%) on the thermal, crystalline, morphology, mechanical properties, wettability, and oil-water separation performance of the PLA/PBAT melt-blown nonwovens were thoroughly investigated. The result of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) shows that PBAT promotes the movement of the PLA molecular chain and promotes crystallinity. With increasing the blending ratio of PBAT, the degree of crystallinity ( X c ) of PLA was also enhanced from 1.5 to 15.5%, respectively, which was higher than neat PLA. Furthermore, PBAT increases the toughness and hydrophobia of the PLA melt-blown nonwovens. The elongation at break of PLA/PBAT 90/10 (53.3 ± 3.7%) melt-blown nonwovens was 12.3% higher than the neat PLA (41.0 ± 2.9%). The result of the research on the influence of the oil-water separation parameters and oil absorption experiments shows that the 90/10 PLA/PBAT melt-blown nonwoven exhibits the highest hydrophobic (water contact angle is 133.2°). Meanwhile, the oil-water separation efficiency is 96%. The PLA/PBAT melt-blown nonwovens have excellent oil-water separation capability.