Eco-friendly composite fibers offer durable, multifunctional air filtration for industry

As industries including coal chemical processing, oil and gas refining, and semiconductor manufacturing undergo technological upgrading, the demand for advanced air filtration technologies and materials has surged—driven by the dual need to safeguard production processes and support environmental sustainability.

Key requirements include the synergistic removal of fine particulate matter (PM) and harmful gases, as well as the development of new filtration materials that combine environmental friendliness with multifunctional performance.

Traditional cellulose paper-based filtration materials, however, face critical limitations: insufficient mechanical strength and stability, which restrict their application in demanding industrial settings.

To address this gap, researchers from the Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have explored combining cellulose with inorganic rigid fibers, and they have developed environmentally friendly and multifunctional air filtration materials. Their study is published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.

The team used Lyocell fibers (a type of natural biomass fiber) and basalt fibers (a mineral-based fiber) as raw materials, fabricating a series of composite fiber filtration materials through a wet-laid process—an adhesive-free manufacturing method that enhances the materials’ environmental compatibility.

Testing showed the composite materials have two key advantages over pure cellulose fiber-based alternatives: first, the incorporation of basalt fibers significantly enhances their burst strength and tear strength, solving the fragility issue of traditional cellulose filters; second, despite containing rigid basalt fibers, the composites still maintain high flexibility, allowing them to adapt to different filtration equipment and installation scenarios.

To further enhance the materials’ air purification capabilities, the researchers grew zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8)—a type of metal-organic framework with high adsorption capacity—in-situ on the surface of the composite fibers.

Additionally, the basalt fiber component imparted excellent heat resistance to the composites. Even at temperatures as high as 250 °C—common in coal chemical and oil refining processes—the materials maintained stable filtration performance, outperforming traditional cellulose filters that degrade at high temperatures.

These materials provide an efficient, multifunctional, and sustainable solution for air filtration in complex industrial environments, the researchers noted.