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.

Effects of the Sintering Temperature on the Properties of Porous Ceramic Membrane Support Made of Fly Ash, Kaolin, and Claystone

“…The main steps of the processing route for support preparation, used in this work, is described in Figure 1. Chemical analysis of the materials is given in our previous article [8].…”

“…The alkaline activation of aluminosilicates can be defined as a chemical process that leads to a rapid change in the specific structurepartially or totally amorphous which is very similar to the chemistry involved in the synthesis of large group of zeolites [4,5]. It was found that fly ash based geopolymer matrix after heat treatment to 1000 °C creates a large number of small highly-dispersed pores and shows excellent results with high compressive strength, high temperature, and resistance to harsh environments [6][7][8]. Such characteristics are very useful for ceramic membranes supports.…”