Morphology and property study of green ceramic hollow fiber membrane derived from waste sugarcane bagasse ash (WSBA)

Abstract

This work describes the preparation of green ceramic hollow fiber membranes derived from waste sugarcane bagasse ash (WSBA) using phase inversion and sintering techniques as membrane support for water filtration. The first step consisted in the production of WSBA is by the calcination process of sugarcane bagasse at 800 °C and followed characterizing of the microstructure, phases present, and thermal behavior using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). This process was followed by the preparation of ceramic dope suspension consisting of WSBA powder as the main material, NMP as the solvent, PESf as the binder, and Arlacel P135 as the dispersant. In this work, various spinning parameters (effect of SWBA contents, bore fluid flow rate, air gap, and sintering temperature) were evaluated. By varying these parameters, significant effects on the membrane structure and mechanical strength were observed. The different sintering temperatures resulted in wormlike pores in the membrane structure due to neck growth and melting mechanism. The preliminary performance tests show that the green ceramic hollow fiber membrane prepared with a WSBA content of 60 wt%, bore fluid flow rate of 10 mL/min, air gap of 10 cm, and sintering temperature of 1000 °C induced a stable permeate water flux (PWF) of ~ 466.2 L/m2 h at the beginning of the filtration process.