Treatment of starch‐rich wastewater using fly ash‐based low‐cost tubular ceramic membrane

Abstract

Implementation of fly ash-based ceramic tubular membranes in starch wastewater treatment can be considered as a cost-effective approach towards treating huge quantities of wastewater generated in starch industries. The membrane used in this work possesses excellent chemical and mechanical stabilities and has average pore size of 0.133 μm and porosity of (40.17 ± 1.04)%. The permeate produced by treating wastewater from all three starch sources, namely corn, wheat, and rice, was absolutely free of total suspended solids and turbidity and contained slight chemical oxygen demand, which is under permissible limit for discharge into natural water bodies as prescribed by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), India. Besides, the experiments conducted revealed that along with applied pressure, cross-flow velocity and size of starch granules can also play pivotal roles in determining the extent of flux decline. Moreover, the estimated cost of the fabricated membrane is 250.00 USD/m 2 , signifying that the membrane has affordability for being implemented in starch processing industries of all scale.

Application of coal fly ash based ceramic membranes in wastewater treatment: A sustainable alternative to commercial materials

“…In their cost analysis studies, they factored in various parameters associated with the cost of coal fly ash, cost of additives, manpower, electricity and equipment. In another similar study, Goswami et al [ 180 ] fabricated a coal fly ash ceramic membrane and the cost price of a unit membrane was estimated by considering several expenses as shown in Fig. 11 .…”

“… Coal fly based ceramic membrane Production cost price (USD/m 2 ) Reference Novel fly ash blended ceramic membrane in MFC 35.76 [ 46 ] Coal fly ash ceramic membrane 25 [ 178 ] Defective analcime/geopolymer composite membrane derived from fly ash 31.8 [ 182 ] Fly ash-based low-cost tubular ceramic membrane 250 [ 180 ] Low-cost microfiltration membranes from fly ash 17 [ 82 ] Fly ash based ceramic microfiltration membranes for oil-water emulsion treatment 225 [ 136 ]

Fig. 11 (a) Fabrication cost of coal fly ash based ceramic membrane as percentages of manufacturing cost and equipment cost and (b) factored in manufacturing expenses [ 180 ].

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“… (a) Fabrication cost of coal fly ash based ceramic membrane as percentages of manufacturing cost and equipment cost and (b) factored in manufacturing expenses [ 180 ]. …”