抄録
Among several types of ceramic membrane developed for a half of century, alumina is the most extensive advantage. In this study, many types of alumina with different particle size distributions were used as a starting material for fabrication of support sheet ceramic membrane using extrusion process. The investigation focused on the alumina dough components composed of some organic binders and water. The organic binder of about 12 wt. % was required in order for dough to be easily extruded, while the amount of water added to the dough depended on the particle size of alumina powder. The particle size and size distribution of starting powder showed strong effects on pore size of sintered alumina support. The pore size decreased when smaller particle size of starting powder was used. In addition, the pore volume of the sintered alumina decreased with increasing the sintering temperature due to improvement in densification, while pore size remained the same. The mechanical strength of alumina supports was also influenced by the particle size of starting powder; the finer particle size resulted in the higher mechanical strength. However, in order to obtain a good flux for the membrane, a high mechanical strength of the support along with its effective porosity is critical concerns. In this work, the support sintered at 1450°C provided a proper porosity of approximately 40% with an acceptable mechanical strength of 30-45MPa.
