Thesis (M.Sc.)--Chulalongkorn University, 2008

The main objective of this research is to synthesize silk fibroin fiber for indoor air particulate removal. Silk cocoons were de-gummed using 0.5 wt % Na₂CO₃. In this work, the morphologies, physical properties, and mechanical properties of the SF fiber were studied Three sets of experiment were conducted to investigate the impacts of air flow rate, initial particulate matter (PM) concentration, and that of filter types on the PM removal efficiency. Rice bran collected from a local rice mill in Ubonratchathani province was used as indoor air contaminant in this work. The SEM revealed the deposition of PM on the used fiber. The pore size of the SF fiber was estimated to be 24.664 ± 0.005 Å and was classified as mesopore. The mechanical property of 0.024±0.008 N/mm² was obtained of the SF fiber. The maximum PM removal efficiencies of 70.39±0.68 % and 37.85 ± 3.04 % were obtained of PM₁₀ and PM[subscript 2.5], respectively, when using air flow rate of 5 L/min. When the initial PM concentrations of PM10 and PM[subscript 2.5] were increased to 2, 3, 4, and 5 times of the original concentrations, The highest PM₁₀ removal efficiencies of 70.39±0.68 % was obtained when using initial concentration at 0.040 mg/m³. The highest PM[subscript 2.5] removal efficiency of 57.26±3.36 % was obtained when using initial concentration at 0.080 mg/m³. The effects of different filter types were also included in this study. The results show that the 3M-8210 fiber yielded the highest PM removal efficiency as compared to the SF fiber. However, the SF fiber costs about eleven times less than the 3M-8210. Therefore, the SF fiber could be applied as an alternative material for indoor air treatment.