Preparation of low-cost peridotite ceramic microfiltration membrane for treating industrial wastewater

The aim of this work is to fabricate a low-cost ceramic microfiltration (MF) membrane made from a new geomaterial named peridotite. The membrane was prepared by uniaxial pressing and followed by sintering. The effect of sintering temperature, in the range of 1100-1225 degrees C, on the permeability, porosity, mechanical strength, and pore size was investigated. The optimized MF membrane sintered at 1200 degrees C exhibits 1198.9 L h-1 m-2 bar-1 of permeability, 36.41% of porosity, 12.9 MPa of mechanical strength, and 1.56 mu m of pore size. The prepared membrane was used for the MF treatment of dairy wastewater. It was found that the membrane is able to remove 88.56% and 69.54% of turbidity and chemical oxygen demand, respectively. Furthermore, the cost of the peridotite membrane was estimated to be $10.3 m-2. Highlights Successfully prepared novel, low-cost ceramic MF membrane from peridotite. Systematic investigation of sintering effects on peridotite membrane properties. Optimized membrane demonstrates high effectiveness in dairy wastewater clarification. image