Elaboration of Ceramic Membranes for the Removal of Chromium Heavy Metal from Aqueous Solutions

The development of various industries has produced a substantial quantity of liquid waste. Wastewater often contains harmful heavy metals that are detrimental to humans, animals, environmental organisms, and plants. Therefore, waste processing is an urgent task to restrict or, at the very least, reduce its negative impact. Chromium is commonly used in metal part plating, cooling-water towers, corrosion protection, and as a scale inhibitor. This research aims to develop and characterize ceramic membranes for the treatment of wastewater containing chromium in its Cr(III) state. Abundant local raw clays allow for the production of low-cost ceramic membranes. In this study, membranes have been prepared using a casting technique with these local raw materials. Characterization of the prepared tubular membranes was performed using XRD, SEM, and a water permeability and filtration plant. The obtained retention rate is 82%. Such a high value demonstrates the effectiveness of these membranes in filtering Cr(III) ions..