Preparation of alumina tubular membranes for treating sugarcane vinasse obtained in ethanol production.

In this work asymmetric tubular membranes were successfully prepared by the co-use of the slip casting and dip-coating techniques. These membranes were used for treating a sugarcane vinasse sample obtained in ethanol production. This study is supported by a series of experimental tests, including scanning electron microscopy, mercury intrusion porosimetry, and Archimedes tests. Parameters such as color, turbidity and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of vinasse were taken into consideration for evaluating the performance of the membranes prepared herein. On one hand, it was observed that a slip-cast support prepared in this study exhibited an expressive capacity for separating the solid particles present in vinasse from water. On the other hand, the deposition of a boehmite coating on this sample led to a further increase in the membrane performance. Reductions as high as 31, 98 and 89% for COD, turbidity and color were obtained when vinasse was permeated through an asymmetric membrane prepared in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]