Fabrication and properties of novel porous ceramic membrane supports from the (Sig) diatomite and alumina mixtures

In this paper, the manufacturing of macro-porous tubular ceramic supports for membranes is described. The novel supports are fabricated from natural diatomite and alumina raw materials using the extrusion method. The structure was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and mercury porosimetry techniques; the presence of possible defects was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The permeability has been measured from water flux in standard experiments. Experimental results show that the open porosity, the average pore size (APS), the pore size distribution, the strength, and the permeability of sintered supports, have been found to depend, mainly on the concentration of alumina (Al2O3) additive. Supports prepared with the addition of 10 wt.% of alumina and sintered at 1200 degrees C, can be considered as the most optimized; they have a porosity ratio of about 46%, an APS is around 7.7 mu m, a flexural strength value of about 28 MPa, and water permeability of around 15 m(3)h(-1) m(-2) bar(-1). Such materials could be of great interest in the supports fabrication for membrane application, for instance, water filtration. (C) 2021 SECV. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U.