Preparation and Characterizations of Ceramic Microfiltration Membrane: Effect of Inorganic Precursors on Membrane Morphology

Ceramic disc type microfiltration membranes (50mm diameter and 5mm thickness) were prepared by the paste method from different compositions of clay, kaolin, and binding agents like sodium carbonate, sodium metasilicate, boric acid, and sintered at different temperatures. All the membranes were characterized by TGA, SEM, XRD, water permeability test, and acid-base treatment. With the increase of sintering temperature, the pore size as well as the permeability and flexural strength were increasing while porosity and pore density were decreasing. It was found that with increasing the amount of kaolin and decreasing the amount of clay the pore diameter was decreasing. A membrane prepared from 18% clay, 62% kaolin, and 20% binding material and sintered at 1000 degrees C has shown the lowest average pore size of 0.31m with porosity, pore density, and flexural strength of 0.22, 4.80x1012m-2 and 12.81MPa respectively. The membrane pore size and pore density were predicted directly from the particle size distribution of the clay and kaolin and were suitably represented by second-order polynomials.