DEVELOPMENT OF CERAMIC MICROFILTRATION MEMBRANE USING BENTONITE CLAY

Abstract

The continuously intensifying human population growth has led to the demand for clean water to be steeply increased while the gap between water demand and supply is getting wider. Therefore, this study involved the fabrication and evaluation of a ceramic microfiltration membrane using naturally occurring clay (bentonite clay) and sawdust, which function is basically to remove impurities from water. The membrane was design using different composition of the same materials at respective ratios of 3:2 (S1), 2:3 (S2), and 1:1 (S3) which denoted the mixing ratio of bentonite clay and sawdust which were locally acquired. After the fabrication, the membrane was subjected to Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) Analysis and structural analysis using Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM). Also, physicochemical and heavy metal test of the ground water sample were carried out pre and post filtration experiment for further statistical analysis. The result of the FTIR analysis shows 18, 11 and 12 peak spectra which was classified into 9, 7 and 9 standard groups respectively were recorded for the membrane S1, S2 and S3 respectively when the samples were sintered at 1000 0 C . the SEM analysis shows that the membrane S2 have rough surface, bigger pores and cavity than membrane S1 and S3, the membrane structure was becoming denser with the increase in the amount of bentonite clay in the membrane as the highest bulk density was recorded under membrane S1 (3.85 g/ml) followed by S2 (2.81 g/ml) and the lowest bulk density value was recorded for membrane S3 (2.19 g/ml).The highest percentage of water absorption was recorded under membrane S3 (57.14%) with high portion of sawdust and the lowest percentage of water absorption value was recorded for membrane S2 (50.96%). The membrane with the best features in term of flexural strength, permeability, continuity and crack free surface was established, even though all the fabricated membranes showed all these characteristics and performed well at various degree of the experiment, but the best according to the purifying efficiency from heavy metals was membrane S1, while membrane S2 and S3 also perform excellently for the physico-chemical analysis.