New membranes made of sintered clay application to crossflow microfiltration

The new mineral membranes made of sintered clay are performed and characterized in terms of porosity, hydraulic resistance, pore diameter and mechanical resistance. It is shown that these membranes can be used as microfiltration membrane. The variations of the filtrate flux as a function of time are measured during the crossflow microfiltration operation of dilute suspensions of bentonite and talc, for different transmembrane pressure values and mean flow rates. Four membranes of different porosities are tested. The crossflow microfiltration of a biologic fluid model is realized in a membrane bioreactor. We showed that according to the average pores diameter, this new clay membranes could have used in different applications; treatment of waters or to be integrated into a bioreactor. Key Words: Clay; Membranes; crossflow microfiltration; Membrane bioreacteur African Journal of Science and Technology Vol.4(2) 2003: 38-41