Fibrous ceramic membrane constructed by mullite whiskers for the treatment of oil-in-water emulsions

Abstract

Ceramic membranes with high porosity and excellent separation efficiency are necessary for the efficient treatment of large-scale wastewaters. However, the conventional ceramic membranes are usually prepared by particles-packing, which inhibits the advances of separation efficiency because of the low porosity and connectivity. Here, a fibrous ceramic membrane with mullite whiskers-interlocked structure was prepared by gas-solid reaction. The effects of aluminum fluoride (AlF3) on the formation and growth of mullite whiskers, and then the permeability and selectivity of the ceramic membranes were investigated. With the increase of AlF3 contents, the mullite phase evolved from needle-like, rod-like to flake-like structure, thus the catalyst accelerated the growth of mullite whiskers in the diameter direction. For the ceramic membrane sintered at 1400°C, the porosity increased from 58% to 76% while the average pore sizes increased from 0.65 to 3.93 μm because of the whisker-constructed structures. For the ceramic membrane sintered at 1450°C, the emulsion flux increased stably from 295 L/(m2·h) to 992 L/(m2·h) with the increase of trans-membrane pressure, and the oil rejection exceeded 98%. Thus, this study provides a feasible strategy for the preparation of ceramic membranes with high porosity and excellent separation performances.