Microfiltration of oil–water emulsions using low cost ceramic membranes prepared with the uniaxial dry compaction method

This work addresses the comparative assessment of uniaxial dry compaction and paste methods for the preparation of low cost ceramic membranes. Kaolin based low cost membranes were fabricated using uniaxial dry compaction with the identified precursor formulation provided by Nandi et al. [5]. Fabricated membranes were characterized and used for the treatment of synthetic oily waste water solutions. It was observed that in comparison with the paste method, the membranes prepared with uniaxial dry compaction method possessed wider pore size distributions. Amongst several membranes, the membrane PM1 fabricated at a pressure of 25 Mpa provided highest flux of 24×10−6 m3/m2 s and an oil rejection of 95.2% but with a fouling index of 29.47% at a pressure of 206.70 kPa. On the other hand, PM3 membrane provided a lower fouling index of 15.54% at a pressure of 206.70 kPa with a membrane flux of 8×10−6 m3/m2 s and a rejection of 97.9%. For the obtained membrane morphology and chosen feed concentration, combination of pore blocking models provided best fit to represent flux decline data. High rejection values (80–90%) and good membrane flux (24×10−6 m3/m2 s) of the fabricated membranes was observed towards the treatment of oil water emulsions using low cost ceramic membranes.