Treatment of seawater and wastewater using a novel low-cost ceramic membrane fabricated with red clay and tea waste

In wastewater treatment, the application of ceramic membranes has gained significant attention due to their potential for highly effective filtration. These membranes are typically produced using methods such as spin coating, dip-coating, and spray coating. However, these techniques have limitations when applied to large-scale industrial applications due to their high cost, time consuming process, and difficulty of control. Moreover, obtaining a complete and uniform coating typically requires several attempts. This research demonstrates the highly effective treatment of tannery wastewater using cost-effective porous ceramic membranes, by incorporating bio-based materials, such as tea waste, as porosifying additives into the main material, which is Moroccan red clay. Various analytical techniques, including X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TDA-TG), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and the Archimedes principle test, were used to investigate the properties of these ceramic membranes. The impact of the pore-forming agents on the membranes physical and mechanical properties, such as open porosity, bulk density, average pore diameter, flexural and indirect tensile strength, was evaluated. Filtration tests demonstrated effective removal of turbidity, suspended matter and chemical oxygen demand from the wastewater. The optimized membrane exhibited a permeability of 1249 L/h.m2.bar and turbidity removal efficiencies of 99.76% for seawater and 99.16% for tannery wastewater. (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).