Synthesis, characterization and modification of cost-effective kaolin supported hydrothermally fabricated mesoporous silica membrane

Abstract

Abstract Membrane technology has established its noteworthy footsteps in diverse fields due to its better performance efficacy, low space requirement and environment friendly properties. Among several areas of applications, membrane technology has immense application in wastewater treatment. Membrane, more specifically ceramic membrane with the modulation of hydrophilicity may open a key for effective treatment of wastewater at lower cost. Kaolin is one of the cost-effective and effective ceramic materials that can be applied for fabricating lower cost ceramic membrane support. To enhance the hydrophillicity and pore size of kaoline membrane, various researchers has coated the surface of kaoline support with different hydrophilic materials. This paper describes the synthesis and characterization for hydrothermally fabricated mesoporous silica membrane on kaolin support. The membranes were coated multiple times to reduce the surface pore size and characterized by using porosity measurement, and pure water flux analysis. The studies showed that coating was effective in reducing pore size of the membrane.