Microfiltration of Synthetic Bacteria Solution Using Low Cost Ceramic Membranes

Abstract

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.

Multivariate Chemometric Analysis of Membrane Fouling Patterns in Biofilm Ceramic Membrane Bioreactor

“…In addition, since the manufacturing of the ceramic membranes is an energy-consuming process, a number of recent studies have successfully developed and evaluated the performance of low-cost ceramic membranes [88][89][90][91][92][93].…”

Sustainable ceramic membrane for decontamination of water: A cost-effective approach

“…Based on retail cost of materials used, electric and labor cost etc., the average cost of the fabricated membrane has been estimated to be about 60 dollar/m 2 . The fabricated membrane is less expensive as compared with the commercially available and previously reported membranes [ 29 ] used for gravity fed applications for water filtration. Being synthesized from kaolin and quartz, the membrane possesses high mechanical strength.…”

New Low-Cost Ceramic Microfiltration Membranes for Bacteria Removal

“…Two common pollutants in drinking water are the model bacteria, Escherichia coli , a rod-shaped bacterium with length of 2000–5000 nm and width of 400–600 nm; and Staphylococcus aureus , with a spherical size of about 1000 nm [ 30 ]. They were selected to model Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, respectively.…”