This work addresses the development and identification of optimal low cost membrane morphologies for bacteria separation applications. Using uniaxial dry compaction method, ceramic membranes (CM1-CM3) were prepared using kaolin, quartz, calcium carbonate, sodium carbonate, boric acid, sodium metasilicate, and poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA) precursors. The fabricated membranes possessed diverse pore morphologies (0.7-4.5 µm average pore size and 39.4-19.3% porosity). Amongst all membranes, the CM3 membrane with wide pore morphology (average pore size of 4.5 µm and porosity of 19.3%) provided the best performance during the direct-flow MF of synthetic Escherichia coli (DH5α strain) solutions. The CM3 membrane provided a trans-membrane flux varying from 1.21 × 10 − 2 -3.51 × 10 −3 m 3 /m 2 .s after 10 minutes of direct-flow MF for a variation in feed concentrations of 0.004 -14.9 × 10 6 CFU/mL. Corresponding bacterial removal efficiency and log 10 reduction value (LRV) values varied from 99-99.9999% and 2-6 respectively. Further, various fouling models have been evaluated for their use in measuring flux decline data. The results indicated that both membrane pore morphologies and concentration of E. coli strains significantly influenced the measured transmembrane flux, fouling index, and separation efficiency.

Targeting upon the efficacy of bulk and drop wise contacting mode of hydrazine reducing agent, this work addresses Ag-SOEP ELP baths for porous Ag-ceramic composite membrane preparation. The investigations involved the assessment of both membrane and plating characteristics such as conversion, efficiency, PPD, MLI, average plating rate at various values of total plating time. The experimentation inferred that bulk mode of hydrazine contacting Ag-SOEP ELP baths is the optimal choice. Further, cost comparison was also conducted to differentiate the cost of the membranes with those available commercially. It has been found that the electroless fabricated membranes are significantly inexpensive than the available commercial membranes.

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