Elaboration of innovative ceramic microfiltration membrane from natural Moroccan sand for wastewater treatment

This paper aims to elaborate a ceramic membrane made of natural Moroccan sand. The raw material was characterized using X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy techniques. Sand powder (average particle size = 100 μm) was mixed with organic additives and water to produce a plastic paste with rheological properties that allowed for extrusion shaping. Heat treatment of flat membrane support with a diameter of 4 cm and a thickness of 2 mm at 1,050°C/2 h resulted in porosity of 44.04%. The active microfiltration layer was prepared from the same natural sand powder (average particle size < 50 μm) by the spin coating method from 8 wt.% of sand powder 62 wt.% of water and 30 wt.% of PVA (polyvinyl alcohol). The scanning electron microscope was used to examine the formed membrane. The experimental results indicate that sand membrane efficiently clarifies citrus wash effluent. It was shown that chemical oxygen demand and turbidity removals could achieve 64% and 99.8%, respectively.