| Proje Ekibi |
Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Kutalmış GÖKKUŞ
Kastamonu Üniversitesi, Türkiye Projedeki Rolü: Yürütücü |
| Proje Türü | BAP Proje |
| Proje No | - |
| Proje Konusu | Air pollution is one of the biggest problems faced by human beings today and an effective solution has not been developed for many years. Countless types of pollutants pollute the air today. Particulate matter, which is the subject of this project proposal, seriously threatens human and living life with their sizes in the range of 0-10 μm. Therefore, they need to be filtered effectively. Today, air filters are used for particulate matter capture. Filters are materials used to purify fluids from impurities in many areas of our lives. Their importance has been understood once again in the pandemic that has been effective all over the world in the recent past. Each of the filters produced from different materials has some advantages and disadvantages. Filters that help to provide clean air to the environment where people live are generally filters with a felt structure produced with a mixture of synthetic and cellulosic materials. The fine fibers of such filters can be effective in holding very fine dust, bacteria, and viruses. However, when these filters are left to the environment, they both degrade late and release microplastics to the nature, especially in the aquatic environment. For this reason, it is important to produce filters with natural materials. According to the statistics of the General Directorate of Forestry for the year 2022, Kastamonu is the fourth largest province of our country with a forest tree-cutting volume of 1,896.206 m3. In this respect, Kastamonu province has the potential to develop biomaterials seriously. Today, almost 60% of the products used commercially consist of polymer-based materials. The most important weakness of these materials is that they remain undegraded in nature for a long time. For example, the degradation time of nylon bags in nature takes hundreds of years. However, natural molecules (cellulose, lignin, protein, etc.) that can be obtained from trees and plants have the potential to replace polymers by using appropriate synthesis methods or by developing them. For this reason, it is very important to develop biodegradable materials from trees and plants in terms of ensuring the sustainability of the environment. In this project proposal, lignin-based filters (to be isolated from wood raw material) are presented as an alternative to synthetic polymers (polyester, polyamide, nylon 6.6, polyaramid, etc.), which are widely used in the filter industry. According to 2018 data (the most recent data can be reached), the market share of the filter industry in our country is approximately 7.307 billion TL. Although the filter industry is a large market, 90% of the filter raw materials are imported according to the information obtained. Therefore, the production of lignin-based filters is the unique aspect of this project, both in terms of having the potential to reduce foreign dependency for the filter industry and to provide a more sustainable environment. In this project for the production of lignin-based filters, high purity lignin will be isolated from forest trees by organosolv method. Afterwards, this pure lignin will be polymerized to obtain biodegradable polymer by Friedel-Crafts alkylation method and will be converted into nanofibrous structures by electro-spinning device. The durability expected from a filter material will be achieved by combining these nanofiber structures with hemp. With this project, the production of more functional, environmentally friendly and more economical filters with higher efficiency compared to traditional air filters is both the aim and the original aspect of this project proposal. It is thought that the air filters to be produced within the scope of this project will have the potential to be patented and commercialized. In this respect, Kastamonu Provincial Organized Industrial Zone Directorate and Hifyber firm, one of the most important air filter manufacturers in Turkey and headquartered in Denizli, also supports this project. |
| Proje Durumu | Devam Ediyor |
| Başlangıç Tarihi | 12-10-2023 |
| Bitiş Tarihi |
