Preparation of Ceramic Membranes for Effluent Treatment

This work highlights the fabrication of ceramic microfiltration membranes using drill mud as the raw material. The raw material was pre-processed and paste casting method was used for fabrication. Three different membranes were successfully fabricated (keeping a standard stoichiometric composition of raw materials and binders) at three different sintering temperatures e.g. 500, 800 and 900oC. Comprehensive characterization techniques viz. scanning electron microscopy (SEM), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), BET surface area and Mercury porosimetry were followed to ascertain the nature of the membrane fabrication. The membrane sintered at 900oC, having an average pore size of 18ìm was found best suited for oil-water emulsion studies. A rejection of ca. 38% was observed for this membrane. Another variant of ceramic membrane was fabricated at 900oC with an addition of 25% kaolin. A better rejection of ca. 49% was found for this case which can be attributed to better structural properties of the membrane surface and uniformity in pore size distribution. All the membranes were studied for their regeneration and reusability. A detailed cost analysis was also performed and it was seen that the membranes fabricated were much cheaper than the similar products reported in literature