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Affordable hydrophobic hollow fibre membranes were prepared using kaolin and alumina based ceramic powders via a combined phase inversion and sintering technique, followed by a grafting with fluoroalkylsilane (FAS). The crux of the matter in this paper is to study the changes in the properties of the hollow fibre membranes (gas permeation, mechanical strength, pore size, porosity, tortuosity, morphology, and contact angle) by the addition of alumina (Al2O3) to the pure kaolin with mono or multiparticle sizes. By varying the overall loading and particle size of alumina addition, different morphologies of the membranes were obtained due to the differences in the path lengths during phase inversion process for each solvent and nonsolvent exchange. The successful grafting with FAS was evidenced by the increase in contact angle from nearly equal to zero degree before grafting to 140° after grafting. Kaolin-alumina-4, one of the hollow fibres fabricated in this work, achieved a mean pore size of 0.25 µm with the bending strength of 96.4 MPa and high nitrogen permeance of 2.3×10-5 mol·m-2·Pa-1·s-1, which makes the hollow fibre most suitable for the membrane contactor application.


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Fabrication and characterization of affordable hydrophobic ceramic hollow fibre membrane for contacting processes

Show Author's information Mohammed Abdulmunem ABDULHAMEEDa,bMohd Hafiz Dzarfan OTHMANa( )Haider Nadhom Azziz Al JODAbAhmad Fauzi ISMAILaTakeshi MATSUURAcZawati HARUNdMukhlis A. RAHMANaMohd Hafiz PUTEHeJuhana JAAFARa
Advanced Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Department of Petroleum and Petrochemical Engineering, Engineering College, Kerbala University, 56001 Kerbala, Iraq
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada
Advanced Manufacturing & Materials Centre (AMMC), Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Parit Raja, 86400 Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

Abstract

Affordable hydrophobic hollow fibre membranes were prepared using kaolin and alumina based ceramic powders via a combined phase inversion and sintering technique, followed by a grafting with fluoroalkylsilane (FAS). The crux of the matter in this paper is to study the changes in the properties of the hollow fibre membranes (gas permeation, mechanical strength, pore size, porosity, tortuosity, morphology, and contact angle) by the addition of alumina (Al2O3) to the pure kaolin with mono or multiparticle sizes. By varying the overall loading and particle size of alumina addition, different morphologies of the membranes were obtained due to the differences in the path lengths during phase inversion process for each solvent and nonsolvent exchange. The successful grafting with FAS was evidenced by the increase in contact angle from nearly equal to zero degree before grafting to 140° after grafting. Kaolin-alumina-4, one of the hollow fibres fabricated in this work, achieved a mean pore size of 0.25 µm with the bending strength of 96.4 MPa and high nitrogen permeance of 2.3×10-5 mol·m-2·Pa-1·s-1, which makes the hollow fibre most suitable for the membrane contactor application.

Keywords: ceramic membrane contactor, hollow fibre, kaolin, hydrophobic

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Publication history

Received: 26 April 2017
Revised: 26 August 2017
Accepted: 01 September 2017
Published: 19 December 2017
Issue date: December 2017

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© The author(s) 2017

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia under Research University Grant Tier 1 (Project No. Q.J130000.2546.12H25) and Flagship UTMShine (Project No. Q.J130000.2446.03G29), and Nippon Sheet Glass Foundation for Materials Science and Engineering under Overseas Research Grant Scheme (Project No. Q.J130000.2446.03G29). The authors also would like to thank Research Management Centre, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for the technical support.

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