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DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF TUBULAR CERAMIC MEMBRANES PRODUCED FROM AN ALUMINA RESIDUE

Guimarães I, Lira H, Guimarães E, Sidinei K. da Silva SK

Industrial wastes reuse becomes attractive to raw materials economy and to avoid environmental problems. This research objective was to develop and characterize tubular ceramic membranes using in their composition a residue generated during alumina calcination process, known as electrostatic precipitator dust or ESP dust (an alumina residue). Initially, was performed the characterization of the alumina dust. As verifi ed by XDE, the residue showed a high content of Al2O3 (about 96%) in its chemical composition. Gibbsite and α-alumina phases were identifi ed by XRD. At SEM images, could be observed agglomerates with asymmetric shapes. A laser particle analyzer showed particles with medium diameter of 15.68μm. In this study, tubular membranes composed by alumina residue and bentonite clay were produced by extrusion, allowing its use on tangential fl ow, and sintered at 1000°C. Then, they were characterized by SEM, mercury intrusion porosimetry and fl ow measurements with distilled water. The pore diameter average indicated that the obtained membranes can be applied in microfi ltration process.