Comparative Study of Ceramic Membranes Developed on Different Algerian Natural Clays for Industrial-Effluent Filtration

Abstract

This research is based on the deposition of ceramic membranes made from Algerian clays within tubular supports. The major objective is to compare the mechanical strength and water permeability of the developed supports. The membranes made from the same clays are then examined in terms of their application areas and efficacy in treating a local-cheese effluent. The study of these clays demonstrates that the tubular supports made from Aomar clay are more robust than those obtained from kaolin and bentonite. This was due to the higher calcination temperature, which was 1000 °C for Aomar and kaolin clays and 800 °C for bentonite. However, the tubular support based on kaolin has the maximum water permeability (1460.09 L/m2.h.bar). In addition, the permeability tests performed on the membranes deposited on these clays indicate that those of bentonite and Aomar clay are ultrafiltration membranes, whereas the membrane obtained from kaolin is a microfiltration membrane. We demonstrated that the three membranes show high efficiency for the clarification and retention of multiple-pollutant loads of a local-cheese effluent.