Roshni. M, Mohit C, D. Vasanth, R. Periyasamy
In recent years, the ceramic membrane has received significant attention in biotechnological and medical applications. Due to their excellent chemical resistance, reusability and longer shelf life, ceramic membranes could be subjected to steam sterilization and rigorous cleaning procedures. In addition, ceramic membranes could be also deployed in process scenarios that involve higher shear rates, vibratory systems and oscillatory flow conditions. In this work, the circular disc membrane (CDM) was fabricated using cheaper ceramic precursors such as natural white clay, quartz and calcium carbonate. The membrane was sintered at 900oC to obtain consolidated ceramic substrate. The characterization of membrane was carried out on various parameters such as morphology (Scanning electron microscopic analysis), porosity, water flux, pore size, water permeability, chemical resistance and biocompatibility. SEM result shows that the membrane doesn’t have any crack and pin holes. The porosity, water permeability and pore size is found to be 42%, 2.88×10-4 L/m2.h.Pa and 127 nm, respectively. The membrane displays good corrosion resistance in acidic and alkali solutions. The biocompatibility tests affirm that the prepared membrane is more suitable for hemo-filtration applications.
Natural white clay, porosity, pore size, water permeability, biocompatibility