Assembly of odour adsorbent nanofilters by incorporating cyclodextrin molecules into electrospun cellulose acetate webs

A significant problem in ventilating domestic or commercial kitchens is the removal and separation of volatilecompounds which we perceive as strong smells of the sort particularly emitted whilst frying food. In this research, thefeasibility of preparing enriched electrospun cellulose acetate (CA)-based nanofibres containing cone-shapedmolecules of beta-cyclodextrin (?-CD) for the adsorption of the very strong and sharp aldehyde odour of hexanal,which is a marker for oil and fat oxidation was investigated. A binary solvent system using acetone: DMF (2:1) wasshown to be suitable for solution blending of CA with ?-CD. Nanofibrous webs were continuously produced and foundto be substantially free of defects such as beading, producing fibres with the average diameters of 773±50 nm in therange: 250–1.5?m. Colorimetry was used to show the entrapment of ?-CD in the CA structure. The encapsulationefficiency of ?-CD in the fibre structures was typically 85%. FTIR of the electrospun nanofibres examining thefingerprint region of CA indicating no structural changes in the CA during processing. Our results show thatelectrospun CA fibres embedded with ?-CD molecules demonstrate enhanced direct adsorption of model odourmaterial hexanal (up to 80%) indicating feasibility for use in filtration.