Preparation of Ceramic Membranes from Sludge Waste

Abstract

Ceramic tiles industry produces industrial waste wit large amount which become a worldwide problem. Ceramic sludge produced from ceramic tiles wastewater treatment plant is routinely discarded as a useless waste. The aim of this paper is to recycle the ceramic sludge waste to be used as raw material for ceramic membrane production. The ceramic sludge was collected, dried, and characterized by mineralogical composition (XRD), thermal analysis (DTA and TGA), and chemical composition determination (XRF). The support ceramic membrane samples were formed, pressed, dried then fired using temperatures from 1050 to 1200 °C for 1 to 3 hours. Verification parameters were determined. It was found that the firing temperature is the only affecting parameter. The best firing temperature of ceramic membrane is 1150˚C. The prepared ceramic membrane at 1150 oC can be used in both nano-filtration and micro-filtration applications with high separation efficiency.