The potential of a natural Mexican zeolite from the northern state of
Sonora as microfiltration membranes was evaluated. The zeolite was
characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM),
N2
physisorption and thermal analysis. Clinoptilolite and heulandite were the main
components of the zeolite. The crystallinity of this material was confirmed.
Two steps made up the manufacturing process of porous membranes: pressing and sintering. It
was necessary to use lubricants and agglomerants with different particle size of the zeolite.
The best properties of the porous membranes were obtained using zinc stearate (4 wt%) as
lubricant, boehmite (15 wt%) as agglomerant and the best particle size ranged from 63 to
300 µm. Moreover it was observed that the zeolite granule distribution improved the
press of the materials by approximately 10% in the distribution proposed. The
thermal treatment of the porous membranes was carried out at several temperatures
(500–1000 °C).
The porous membranes obtained were characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy
and N2
physisorption to study the global porosity, phase transformations and pore size
distribution. A loss of crystallinity, decreased porosity and a lower specific surface area
were found when the sintering temperature was increased. The results of pore
distribution suggest that these materials are porous membranes for microfiltration.
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