Effect of TiO2 addition on the fabrication of ceramic membrane supports: A study on the separation of oil droplets and bovine serum albumin (BSA) from its solution

Low cost porous ceramic membrane support was prepared using kaolin, pyrophyllite, feldspar, ball clay, quartz and calcium carbonate mixture along with PVA as a binder. The main intention of this work is to study the changes in the properties of the membrane supports (pore size, porosity, mechanical strength and pure water permeability) by the addition of titanium dioxide (TiO2). Three membrane supports, namely, support-I, 3G and 6G supports (naming is based on the loading of TiO2) were prepared by uniaxial compaction method. All the membrane supports were sintered at 950 degrees C and systematically analyzed using thermogravimetric (TG), particle size distribution (PSD), X-ray diffraction (XRD), N-2 adsorption-desorption and scanning electron micrograph (SEM) analysis. The porosity of the support-I, 3G and 6G supports was found to be 44,38 and 36% with an average pore diameter of 0.98, 0.93 and 0.83 mu m, respectively. The flexural strength of the membrane supports was increased with the addition of TiO2 and ranges between 28 and 33 MPa. Solvent permeation studies through these membrane supports revealed that the non polar solvents were more permeable than the polar solvents and the transport mechanism was mainly controlled by viscosity of the solvents. Performance of the membrane supports was investigated for oil-in-water emulsion separation by varying the feed concentration and applied pressure. A maximum rejection of 99% was obtained with 6G support for an oil concentration of 200 ppm. Also, an attempt has been made for the separation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) from its solution using these membrane supports and a reasonable rejection of 40% was obtained for 100 ppm of BSA solution. (C) 2011 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.