In water treatment applications, the use of ceramic membranes is associated with numerous advantages relative to polymer-based filtration systems. High-temperature stability, fouling resistance, and low maintenance requirements contribute to lower lifecycle costs in such systems. However, the high production costs of most commercially available ceramic membranes, stemming from raw materials and processing, are uneconomical for such systems in most water treatment applications. For this reason, there is a growing demand for new ceramic membranes based on low-cost raw materials and processes. The use of unrefined mineral feedstocks, clays, cement, sands, and ash as the basis for the fabrication of ceramic membranes offers a promising pathway towards the obtainment of effective filtration systems that can be economically implemented in large volumes. The design of effective ceramic filtration membranes based on low-cost raw materials and energy-efficient processes requires a balance of pore structure, mass flow, and robustness, all of which are highly dependent on the composition of materials used, the inclusion of various pore-forming and binding additives, and the thermal treatments to which membranes are subjected. In this review, we present recent developments in materials and processes for the fabrication of low-cost membranes from unrefined raw materials, including clays, zeolites, apatite, waste products, including fly ash and rice husk ash, and cement. We examine multiple aspects of materials design and address the challenges relating to their further development.

Materials and Applications for Low-Cost Ceramic Membranes.

Obtaining low-cost ceramic membranes has attracted great interest in the scientific community in last years, as it allows to preserve the advantages of ceramic materials while significantly reduce their manufacturing costs. This type of membranes is mainly based on the use of raw materials and manufacturing processes typical of traditional ceramic materials, i.e silicate-based ceramics. This work exhaustively reviews the raw materials, ceramic compositions and variables of the manufacturing processes used in the development of these membranes, with special emphasis on their numerous potential industrial applications.

Low-cost ceramic membranes: A research opportunity for industrial application

Manufacturing of tubular ceramic microfiltration membrane based on natural pozzolan for pretreatment of seawater desalination

Low-cost ceramic membranes: Synthesis, classifications, and applications

Recent developments in porous ceramic membranes for wastewater treatment and desalination: A review.

Design and characterization of flat membrane supports elaborated from kaolin and aluminum powders

Comptes Rendus Chimie - In Press.Proof corrected by the author Available online since vendredi 26 octobre 2018

Iconography : Low-cost ceramic membranes: Synthesis, classifications, and applications

Low-cost tubular macroporous supports for ceramic membranes were elaborated using the extrusion method, followed by curing, debinding, and sintering processes, from a powder mixture containing kaolin, starch, and sand. The obtained substrates were characterized using mercury intrusion porosimetry, water absorption test, water permeability, scanning electron microscopy, and three-point bending test to evaluate the effects of the additives on the relevant characteristics. According to experimental results, adding the starch ratio to the kaolin powder shows a notable impact on the membrane porosity and consequently on the water permeability of the tubular supports, whereas their mechanical strength decreased compared to those prepared from kaolin alone. It has been shown that the addition of an appropriate amount of starch to the ceramic paste leads to obtaining membrane supports with the desired porosity. Indeed, the water permeability increased significantly from 20 to 612 L h−1 m−2 bar−1 for samples without and with 20 wt% of starch, respectively, as well as the open porosity, the apparent porosity, and the pore size distribution. The bending strength decreased slightly and reached about 4 MPa for samples with the highest starch amounts. On the other hand, the incorporation of sand in a mixture of kaolin + 10 wt% starch increased the mechanical strength and the water permeability. The samples containing 3 wt% of sand exhibited a bending strength four times higher than the supports without sand; the water permeability measured was about 221 L h−1 m−2 bar−1. These elaborated tubular supports for membrane are found to be suitable for solution concentration; they were applied for algal solution and are also easily cleaned by water.

Manufacture and optimization of low-cost tubular ceramic supports for membrane filtration: application to algal solution concentration

In this paper, two different processing ways have been presented and have led to two support shapes with particular interest: tubular and flat configurations, which are currently the most used supports in membrane research. Porous cermet supports for membrane substrate in tubular and flat configurations have been prepared from kaolin and aluminum powder mixtures. Tubular configurations were produced by an extrusion method, whereas flat configurations were obtained by dry pressing. Our findings demonstrate that the addition of metal ratio to kaolin matrix has a positive effect on the porosity of supports compared to those prepared from kaolin alone and has two conflicting effects on mechanical strength. Moreover, in the presence of aluminum, the mechanical strength either increases or decreases according to the shape of the cermet support. On the other hand, open porosity and water permeability of the ceramic supports increase proportionally with the addition of aluminum ratio to kaolin matrix for ...

Mansour Issaoui

Papers

Low-cost ceramic membranes: Synthesis, classifications, and applications

Design and characterization of flat membrane supports elaborated from kaolin and aluminum powders

Iconography : Low-cost ceramic membranes: Synthesis, classifications, and applications

Manufacture and optimization of low-cost tubular ceramic supports for membrane filtration: application to algal solution concentration

Elaboration of membrane ceramic supports using aluminum powder