Preparation of Ultrafiltration Ceramic Membrane Using Silica Nanopowder

In this work, silica nanopowder was used as starting material for the preparation of an ultrafiltration (UF) membrane. The choice of these materials was based on their favorable physical properties, high thermal and chemical stability. Additionally, the silica membrane was prepared on a multilayers ceramic support (macro-porous support and interlayers) using a slip casting method from the silica powder suspension. After that, this membrane was dried at room temperature and then it was sintered at 450 °C. The resulting silica membrane showed good structural properties, with a thickness of ≈15 μm and an average pore size (APS) of about 30 nm. Furthermore, the membrane was tested for various applications, revealing a water permeability value of approximately 450 l/(h.m2.bar), a high dextran retention rate (75%) and effective removal of heavy metals (approximately 92%). Finally, we can conclude that those significant properties enable the use of this membrane for water treatment and in the field of ultrafiltration.