An approach of optimal designing of nonwoven air filter media: Effect of fibre fineness

This article reports on an optimal design of nonwoven air filter media produced from fibres of different finenesses. A series of nonwoven filter media was prepared from polypropylene fibres of three different finenesses. The entire media were evaluated for filtration efficiency and pressure drop. A three-component augmented simplex lattice design was used for media preparation, and response surface methodology was employed for data analysis. A set of expressions was obtained for predicting the filtration efficiency and pressure drop of nonwoven filter media as a function of fibre composition. The composition in the media was optimized by desirability function approach to achieve maximum filtration efficiency and minimum pressure drop simultaneously.