Research progress on dust masks made of biodegradable filter materials

Disposable dust masks serve as the last line of defense against pneumoconiosis for coal miners in China. However,masks made from petroleum-based materials require 400 to 500 years to fully degrade,posing serious adverse effects on both the ecological environment of mining areas and human health. In light of this,increasing attention has been paid to the development of dust masks using biodegradable filter materials. This study provides a comprehensive review from four main aspects:research on biodegradable filter materials,the current state of development of biodegradable dust masks,a survey of commercially available biodegradable masks,and the evaluation standards for mask protection performance and degradability. The review identifies several key issues:existing research often stops at the membrane material stage;performance evaluations of these membrane materials and the few self-developed biodegradable masks are incomplete;research on biodegradable filter cotton and PAPR (Powered Air-Purifying Respirator) filter cartridges is scarce;commercially available biodegradable masks lack unified certification; and significant gaps remain in the evaluation standards for biodegradable masks both domestically and internationally. Finally,corresponding suggestions are proposed to address these issues.