Elaboration and properties of fly ash based microfiltration membrane support

Abstract

The main aim of this work was to prepare a ceramic membrane support applied directly to microfiltration of industrial wastewater using a simple and cheap method. Microfiltration (MF) supports were prepared using fly ash as a dominant material and by addition of natural inorganic materials kaolin and claystone. These powders were mixed with alkali solution in order to prepare paste suitable for extrusion. The extruded tubes dried at room temperature and sintered at 1000°C showed great chemical resistance. Their morphology was examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and showed a homogeneous porous structure without any cracks. The average pore size distribution of the tubes was about 2 μm and pore volume was 33%. Fabricated MF membrane supports were tested using the cross-flow microfiltration process. Results with distilled water showed permeability of 680 l/h m 2 bar that is comparable with commercial ones