Preparation and Performance Evaluation of TiO2 incorporated Fly Ash-Kaolin Ceramic Membrane for Oil/Water Separation

This study aimed to prepare ceramic membranes from low-cost materials for oil/water separation. TiO2 was incorporated into fly ash/kaolin-based ceramic membrane matrix via the impregnation method to enhance membrane performance. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) results exhibited random distribution of pores along the membrane surface with an estimated pore size of 0.001- 0.13 µm. The porosity of the TiO2-incorporated fly ash/kaolin ceramic membrane ranged from 42.82%-50.22%, where the sintering temperature played an important role in the water absorption and porosity properties. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern showed an orthorhombic kyanite phase with the presence of three characteristic peaks at of 26.30°: 27.87° and 35.90°. The XRD pattern of all formulated membranes showed almost no change, however, the crystal intensity varied due to the different ceramic compositions. P hysicochemical properties evaluation showed that the membrane with fly ash, kaolin, and alumina of 20 : 30 : 40 wt% has reached the best characteristic. The casted membrane with a compaction pressure of 30 bar with sintering temperature of 1200oC for 7 h had the highest compressive strength. The performance showed that the TiO2 incorporated membrane achieved over 95% oil rejection efficiency and significant decrease of several parameters such as Pb, Fe, Mn, nitrate, nitrite, total dissolved solid (TDS), Cl and total organic matter without sacrificing the permeate water flux up to 116 L/m2/h. These experimental results suggest that the TiO2-incorporated Fly ash/kaolin ceramic membrane has great potential for reclaiming oily wastewater into clean water.