New ceramic microfiltration membranes from Tunisian natural materials: Application for the cuttlefish effluents treatment

New microfiltration membranes from Tunisian natural materials are obtained using ceramic method. Paste from Tunisian silty marls refereed (M-11) is extruded to elaborate a porous tubular configuration used as supports. The support heated at 1190 degrees C, shows an average pore diameters and porosity of about 9.2 mu m and 49%, respectively. The properties in term of mechanical and corrosion resistances are very interesting. The elaboration of the layer based on Tunisian clay refereed (JM(18)) is performed by slip-casting method. The heating treatment at 900 degrees C leads to an average pore size of 0.18 mu m. The water permeability determined of this membrane is 8671 h(-1) m(-2) bar(-1). This membrane can be used for crossflow microfiltration. The application to the cuttlefish effluent clarification shows an important decrease of turbidity (inferior to 1 NTU) and chemical organic demand (COD) values (retention rate of about 65%). So, it seems that the prepared membrane is suitable for such wastewater treatment. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.