Effectiveness of Cloth Mask with Activated Carbon Filter from Sugarcane Bagasse
Sri Rahayu, Siska Aprilia Kaulika, Miladya Syamsu, Muhammad Fadillah, Aulia Rifdah, Novita Rahma Mujayani, Novita Sari, Naufal Ma^arif

State University of Jakarta

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused an increase in amount of medical mask waste. Therefore, an alternative can be do to reduce waste is using cloth masks with additional mask filters. Activated carbon can be used in mask filters as an adsorbent. One of the potential adsorbents is activated carbon from sugarcane bagasse. Sugarcane bagasse as activated carbon has biomass and lignocellulose with high carbon content. Activated carbon filter using sugarcane bagasse can be an alternative and used as an adsorbent as an addition to filters in cloth masks. The purpose of this research is to know microstructure of activated carbon filter with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), effectiveness of cloth masks with activated carbon filters in reducing pathogenic bacteria with Bacterial Filtration Efficiency (BFE), and level of user comfort when using the mask with pressure drop test. This research method is an experimental research. The research design used was a completely randomized design (CRD) with one treatment. Treatment in the form of concentration variations activator of KMNo4, namely 5%, 10%, and 15%. The test was repeated 2 times (duplo).

Keywords: Activated carbon filter, sugarcane bagasse, microstructure, efectiveness to reduce bacteria, differential pressure.

Topic: Biology