article · Journal of Water Chemistry and Technology
Researchers have fabricated low-cost ceramic membranes for water treatment by valorising two types of Algerian clay ores. The porous membrane support was created from mountain clay from Biskra province mixed with calcium carbonate and methocel via an extrusion process. Tests showed that sintering this support at 1150 degrees Celsius provided an ideal balance of mechanical resistance and permeability, driven by the formation of gehlenite, anorthite, and mullite structures. A separate filtration layer made of clay from the Constantine region and polyvinyl aniline was then applied to the support using a slip-casting method. Microscopic analysis showed that the final cast membrane achieved a clean, homogeneous structure with low porosity. When tested under high-pressure conditions, the resulting ceramic membrane achieved a very good filtration rate, confirming its functional capability for microfiltration of polluted water.
Clean water supply often relies on expensive synthetic filtration membranes that are costly to produce and maintain. Utilizing abundant local clay minerals offers an alternative route to manufacture durable ceramic membranes at lower cost, making water purification infrastructure more accessible, sustainable, and affordable.
This work represents applied and tested laboratory research demonstrating that natural clay ores can be turned into functional microfiltration membranes. The technology is aimed at water treatment and purification applications. While the filtration efficiency on polluted water has been confirmed under high pressure, commercialisation would require scaling the extrusion and casting processes to industrial production levels.
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Two samples of Algerian clay were collected for preparing ceramic membranes that can be used for water filtration. The membrane support was prepared from mountain clay from El Outaya mountains, Biskra province, Algeria, using calcium carbonate and methocel additive via extrusion method. The membrane was deposited using slip-casting method and the precursor slurry was based on polyvinyl aniline (PVA) and clay from Constantine mountains. The supports exhibited proportional evolution of mechanical resistance with sintering temperature, so the 1150°C support was selected for membrane deposition due to its porosity, which yielded optimal mean flux values (30 002.082, 21 559.54, and 16 511.71 L h–1 m–2 for 3 × 104, 6 × 104, and 9 × 104 Pa pressure, respectively). The selected support possessed optimal permeability suitable for membrane deposition (factor k = 0.25679 L h–1 m–2 Pa–1) because of necks and bridges formation made of mainly Gehlenite–Anorthite with some traces of Mullite. The cast membrane displayed low porosity and very high filtration performance since the Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image revealed a clean side section of the membrane with good homogeneity and low porosity rate. Moreover, the application of the cast membrane for filtration resulted in a very good filtration rate under high-pressure filtration when comparing the polluted water sample and the filtrate, showing the applicability of the designed membrane for microfiltration.
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DOI: 10.3103/s1063455x25040083
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