Green synthesis of iron-ore flat sheet membrane and physicochemical characterization

While ceramic membranes offer superior chemical and mechanical characteristics compared to their polymeric counterparts, their commercial availability comes with a significantly higher price tag. The exploration of cost-effective ceramic membrane alternatives, using affordable raw materials and production techniques that required lower manufacturing temperatures than conventional industrial ceramic membranes, holds the potential to deliver viable solutions for various applications. Iron ore is proposed in this work as raw material for the manufacture of low-cost ceramic membranes, because it is inherent structural and chemical properties and their low cost. Iron ore, as the starting material, was characterized using several techniques, including X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, differential thermal analysis, and gas adsorption. Flat sheet membranes were successfully synthesized and characterized by mercury intrusion porosimetry, permporometry method, air and water permeation and scanning electron microscopy. The results confirm that a suitable pore size for the use of these ceramic membranes in microfiltration applications has been achieved. This development represents an energy economy in the manufacture of ceramic membranes and lower production cost by using cheap raw material, compared with the current technology.