Chemical Engineering / Kimya Mühendisliği
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11147/14
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Article Citation - WoS: 13Citation - Scopus: 17Characterization and Beneficiation of Ethiopian Kaolin for Use in Fabrication of Ceramic Membrane(IOP Publishing, 2021) Zewdie, Tsegahun Mekonnen; Prihatiningtyas, Indah; Dutta, Abhishek; Habtu, Nigus Gabbiye; Van der Bruggen, BartKaolin (china clay) is a rock material that is very rich in kaolinite. A kaolin ore from Debre Tabor, Ethiopia containing 59.2 wt% SiO2, 24.9 wt% Al2O3, 2.4 wt% Fe2O3, and 8.22 wt% loss on ignition (LOI) was physically beneficiated, chemically leached, and thermally treated for possible industrial use, especially for ceramic membrane fabrication. The leaching experiments were carried out using oxalic acid solutions as leaching reagents for the iron extraction process. The effect of acid concentration, reaction temperature, and contact time on iron leaching was investigated. It was determined that the rate of iron extraction increased with the oxalic acid concentration, leaching temperature, and contact time. A substantial reduction of iron oxide (2.4 to 0.36 wt%) from the raw kaolin was observed at operating conditions of 2.0 M oxalic acid, the temperature of 120 degrees C, and contact time of 120 min. A maximum kaolin whiteness index of 81.4% was achieved through this leaching process. Finally, the physically beneficiated, chemically leached, and thermally treated kaolin raw material was used to fabricate a low-cost kaolin-based ceramic membrane. After firing at 1100 degrees C the ceramic membrane was found to have a mass loss of 11.04 +/- 0.05%, water absorption of 8.9 +/- 0.4%, linear shrinkage of 14.5 +/- 0.05%. It was demonstrated to be chemically stable, having less than 3% mass loss in acid solution, and less than 1% mass loss in alkali solution. The newly developed membranes have thus properties comparable to commercial ceramic membranes.Article Citation - WoS: 5Citation - Scopus: 5Flat sheet metakaolin ceramic membrane for water desalination via direct contact membrane distillation(IWA Publishing, 2022) Zewdie, Tsegahun Mekonnen; Habtu, Nigus Gabbiye; Dutta, Abhishek; Van der Bruggen, BartHydrophobic metakaolin-based flat sheet membrane was developed via phase inversion and sintering technique and modified through 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane grafting agents. The prepared membrane was characterized by different techniques such as XRD, FTIR, SEM, contact angle, porosity, and mechanical strength. Their results indicated that the wettability, structural, and mechanical properties of the prepared membrane confirm the suitability of the material for membrane distillation (MD) application. The prepared metakaolin-based flat sheet membrane acquired hydrophobic properties after surface modification with the water contact angle values of 113.2° to 143.3°. Afterward, the membrane performance was tested for different sodium chloride aqueous solutions (synthetic seawater) and various operating parameters (feed temperature, feed flow rate) using direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). Based on the findings, the prepared membrane at metakaolin loading of 45 wt.% and sintered at 1,300 °C was achieved the best performance with >95% salt rejection and permeate flux of 6.58 + 0.3 L/m2 · h at feed temperature of 80 °C, feed concentration of 35 g/L, and feed flow rate of 60 L/h. It can be con-cluded that further optimization of membrane porosity, mechanical, and surface properties is required to maximize the permeate flux and salt rejection.