Preparation of new ceramic supports macro-porous for microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes based Moroccan clay

Abstract

The aim of this work is to develop Moroccan clay of the Meknes-Tafilalet region operated as basic raw material for the production of tubular supports mono-channel macro-porous for a microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes. During the development, several parameters are controlled such as: the chemical and mineralogical composition of the initial powder, the particle size, final sintering temperature and final sintering time. Thus, we have defined a method of preparing of the clay pasta by varying the quantity of added organic matter, the volume of water, the time of mixing and kneading, and the aging time. The supports are obtained by extruding of a plastic paste prepared with a good optimize percentage of the organic matter. These have allowed us to improve the characteristics of the final product such as; the porosity and the mechanical resistance. The supports are dried in the open air, and then treated in an electric furnace at different final sintering temperatures according to a definite thermal program. The results show that the obtained ceramic supports after heat treatment at 1000 °C for three hours are characterized by a high porosity (P = 36 %), very good chemical resistance (1,11 % for the attack acid HNO3/1N and 0,28 % for the attack basic NaOH/1N), best mechanical performance (R = 190 daN) and good permeability to water (F = 3329 L/h.m 2 for 1 bar).