Production of Supports and Filtration Membranes from Algerian Kaolin and Limestone

In this work supports and microfiltration (MF) membranes were manufactured from raw kaolin and lime extracted from limestone. The effects of the relatively lower sintering temperature, ranging from 800° to 1100 °C, on the porosity, average pore size, pore-size distribution and strength of supports have been investigated. It has been found that the average pore size in tubular membrane supports, measured by mercury porosimetry, was about 7 μm while the pore volume was 48% for supports sintered at 1000 °C with a flexural strength of about 30 MPa. The samples sintered at 1000oC were selected as supports for production of MF membranes. Active membrane layers were elaborated from anorthite powder (CaO.Al2O3.2SiO2), using the slip-casting technique.