Preparation of Chitosan/Acacia Microcapsule Facilitating Photo-catalytic Degradation of Polypropylene Nonwovens

Since the "plastic limit order" was released, shopping bags made of polypropylene spun-bonded nonwovens have been wildly used in daily life for their portability and recyclability. However, polypropylene materials are difficult to be degraded in natural conditions, thus they are not the "real" environmental protection bags. Many studies demonstrate that TiO2 has obvious effects on raising nonwovens' photo-catalytic degradation rate. In this study, the microcapsules were prepared with complex coacervation method using chitosan and acacia as wall and TiO2 as core material. In addition, the main process parameters including the concentration of chitosan, PH of the coacervation solution and stirring speed, which have effects on the microcapsule formation behavior were discussed specially. The results show that the good microcapsules were produced at the condition of the chitosan concentration of 0.4%, the PH valued about 3.18, stirring speed of 300r/min, temperature of the coacervation 60 degrees C and the condensation reaction time for 15 minutes.