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

Abstract

Abstract In this work, polylactic acid/poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PLA/PBAT) melt-blown nonwovens with well oil-water separation properties were made with melt-blown technology. 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 DSC and WAXD show that PBAT promotes the movement of the PLA molecular chain and promotes crystallinity. With increasing the blending ratio of PBAT, the ΔHm and degree of crystallinity (Xc) of PLA were also enhanced from 38.1 to 55.1 J/g and from 1.5–15.5%, respectively, which were higher than neat PLA. Furthermore, PBAT increases the toughness and hydrophobic of the PLA melt-blown nonwovens. The elongation at break of PLA/PBAT 90/10 (53.3 ± 3.7%) was 12.3% higher than the neat PLA melt-blown nonwovens (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 133.2o). Meanwhile, the maximum adsorption efficiency of cyclohexane of nonwovens reaches 5.18 g/g. The PLA/PBAT melt-blown nonwovens have excellent oil-water separation capability.