Membrane characterisation from the support to the skin layer: Application to silicon carbide (SiC) membranes

Abstract

SiC membranes are used in many industrial fields with high performances and good retention efficiency in the filtration of loaded liquids such as wastewater, oil or wine. Technologies allow to characterise membrane’s surface but few allow the characterisation of its depth. This paper proposes the combination of results obtained by the usual techniques of porous materials and by 3D X-ray tomography characterisation. A morphological analysis of solid and porous phase is carried out on the total thickness of the membrane. Combination of results on all layers is relevant for the study of SiC membranes, showing not only the SiC surface properties but also the 3D description of the porous material (i.e. support, layer and skin). The definition of essential parameters to define the efficiency of a filtration such as hydrophobicity, porosity and tortuosity allows to justify the use and superior performance of SiC membranes for the filtration of loaded liquids.