The development of plastic materials was crucial for improving the quality of life and helped in the growth of various sectors of society. However, humans have shown themselves to be major producers of waste on a global scale, increasing the amount of plastic waste produced each year. Among the most important and commonly used plastics are PET and PS, which represent a worldwide problem due to the high generation of waste. Due to its improper disposal and major pollution problem, an efficient technique to recycle this waste is interesting. One of the ways to do this is to use nanotechnological processes to produce a differentiated material with high added value. Among the methods, electrospinning is a promising method for the production of filter media for air treatment. This technique allows to obtain fibers in a nanoscale in a simple way and with different morphologies.

The present work aims at the development of nano and micrometric fibers with high efficiency, low-pressure drops, and high resistance using PET and PS waste. A methodology was used to develop a triple-layer filter medium (PET/PS/PET) obtained by different PET electrospinning times (0.0, 5.0, and 10.0 min) and keeping the PS electrospinning time fixed (5.0 min), verifying the impact of this on nanoparticle collection efficiency, air permeability and mechanical strength of filter media. For the electrospinning process, an applied voltage of 25 kV, a distance between the collector and needle of 10 cm, and an injection flow rate of the polymeric solution of 0.8 mL/h was used.

It was observed that the polystyrene fibers tended to be more intertwined in one layer of PET, while the other did not show great adhesion between the fibers. It was possible to greatly increase the mechanical strength with the addition of PET layers, with an increase in modulus of elasticity, maximum stress, and maximum strain at break of 4.2, 12.5, and 14 times, respectively. The efficiencies of...