Preparation of low-cost ceramic membranes for microfiltration using sugarcane bagasse ash as a pore-forming agent

Abstract

Abstract Ceramic membranes are of great industrial interest in separation processes. They are characterized by high chemical and thermal stabilities and filtration capacity at high temperatures (>500 °C) in a wide range of pH values. However, the major disadvantage of ceramic membranes is the high-cost of production involving synthetic raw materials, usually alumina and zirconia. In this work, low-cost ceramic membranes were prepared by solid-state reactive firing using a mixture of kaolinite clay and sugarcane bagasse ash. Particle size distribution, thermal, mineralogical, and chemical composition analyses were carried out to study the raw materials. Technological properties and water permeability were investigated in samples fired between 800 and 1000 °C. The filtration efficiency was measured by comparative analyses between the raw water and the filtrate. The mean pore size ranging from 2.5 to 6.0 μm makes the sugarcane bagasse ash derived ceramic membranes suitable for microfiltration processes.