Manufacture and characterization of flat microfiltration membrane based on Moroccan pyrophyllite clay for pretreatment of raw seawater for desalination

The work explores the preparation and characterization of flat pyrophyllite membrane for micro filtration. The pyrophyllite clay was characterized by X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis to determine both its chemical and mineralogical composition also to understand its thermal behavior with respecting the sintering temperature. The ceramic membrane was made under uniaxial pressing of pyrophyllite clay and starch followed by sintering at different temperatures. The optimal temperature of 1,150 degrees C presents a flat membrane with a porosity of 40.50%, an average pore size of 0.80 mu m, a mechanical strength of 30 MPa and a permeability of 1,000 L h(-1) m(-2) bar(-1). Besides, the membrane exhibited good turbidity removal efficiency 99.40% of raw seawater and reduced 77.41% of chemical oxygen demand. Furthermore, the cleaning of the prepared membrane made it possible to recover 80% of its initial water permeability.