Fabrication,characterization and application of ceramic membrane developed from Tunisian natural kaolin clay for textile wastewater treatment are presented in this study.The morphology and properties of the resulting membrane sintered at 1000°C for 3 h was then determined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM),mechanical and chemical resistance and water permeability.Separation performance of the membrane was evaluated during treatment of textile wastewater.SEM images reveal homogeneous surface of the membrane.The membrane displayed good chemical and mechanical resistances as well. Its permeability was of 21.2 L.h -1 .m -2 .bar -1 , indicating that separation performance could occur in the domain of Ultrafiltration(UF).Performances of the membrane during the treatment of raw and biologically pretreated textile effluents are promising in terms of removal of color (99% for the raw effluent and 100% for the biologically pretreated effluent), chemical oxygen demand (COD) (80% for the raw effluent and 93% for the biologically pretreated effluent) and turbidity (98% for the raw effluent and 100% for the biologically pretreated effluent).

Asymmetric mesoporous composite PTFE membranes wit 40, 50, and 85 wt.% of a clay (kaolin) were fabricated and characterized using a scanning electron microscope equipped with EDX for morphology and elemental analysis. The surface chemistry of the membranes was checked using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The effect of incorporating the clay on the hydrophilicity, permeability, morphology, and antifouling properties of the fabricated membranes was investigated. It was observed that incorporating kaolin particles improved the mechanical properties but decreased the contact angle of the membranes, thereby resulting in an improvement in the membrane permeability. The performance of the three composite UF membranes was evaluated through the treatment of a real textile effluent sample containing indigo dye. The results confirmed that these membranes are effective in the removal of COD, color, and turbidity. Indeed, at a transmembrane pressure of 2.5 bar, almost total removal of the turbidity, COD removal > 85%, and color removal > 97% were attained. Furthermore, membrane A85 (with 85% clay) showed the best performance, with a water flux of 659.1 L·h−1·m−2·bar−1. This study highlights the potential of incorporating low-cost clay material for the enhancement of the performance of mixed organic/inorganic matrix membranes, which can be applied to textile wastewater treatment.

No abstract