In this study, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were grown directly in the pores of micro porous pyrex membranes and consequently ceramic membranes with very fine pores and high porosity were achieved. Our experiment was done in two stages. Initially cobalt powder with different percent was homogeneously mixed with pyrex powder. In order to produce row membranes, each of these mixtures were compacted in the form of tablet by use of a uniaxial cold press and in a stainless steel mould, and then the tablets were sintered at different temperature in an electric furnace. In second stage chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method was used to grow CNTs within the pores of the membranes. Argon and ammonia were used as carrier and reactive gas respectively and acetylene was used as the carbon feedstock. Morphology of the membranes before and after CVD process was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). After CVD process CNTs were grown in the pores of membranes and the pores size was decreased but total porosity of the membrane was not changed considerably. In this way membranes with high porosity and fine pores were fabricated.

The 70SiO2-15TiO2-15ZrO2 membrane was prepared by a sol-gel procedure. Corrosion behavior of the microporous top layer along with the membrane characterization in terms of pore size, surface area, pore volume and weight loss are described. The final ceramic membrane with a thickness of 400 nm and uniform surface was obtained. This membrane confirmed the fine microporous characteristic with mean pore size<2 nm. After corrosion test, the corroded membrane revealed a surface with non-uniform coverage of the top layer. The heated ceramic membrane was amorphous before and after corrosion test. Dissolution of ions increased in acid and basic solutions. The weight loss of samples increased when pH increased at 25oC. Porosity of samples increased after the corrosion test. The pore size increased as compared to that of the original membrane. Surface area of the membrane increased in basic solution, but decreased in acid solution.

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems are considered a suitable approach for this purpose. However, the main challenge of these systems is membrane fouling. This study investigated the filtration performance of a ceramic membrane in two operating modes: side-stream and submerged. The impact of physical and chemical cleaning on fouling removal and filtration performance was evaluated. The results showed that total fouling in submerged and side-stream MBRs reached 93.6% and 82.3%, respectively. Reversible fouling rates were 50.9% and 56.2%, and irreversible fouling rates were 42.7% and 26.3%, respectively. Additionally, the levels of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) formed on the membrane decreased from about 255 mg/gVSS to about 120 in the submerged MBR and 65 in the side-stream MBR. The Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal efficiency was 88% for the side-stream MBR and 82% for the submerged MBR. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) tests identified the components and compounds present in the activated sludge. FTIR and EPS analyses indicated that acidic compounds such as humic acid, and amine and hydroxyl-containing compounds such as polysaccharides, halides, and alkyl halides were present on the membrane cake layer, causing pore blockage and cake formation.

The effect of ceramic filter composition on improving the quality of produced water by reducing total dissolved solids (TDS), barium, and phenol for reverse osmosis (RO) treatment was investigated in the present work. The ceramic filters were fabricated using a residue catalytic cracking (RCC) unit spent catalyst with and without activation, clay, and Dioscorea hispida starch (DHS), at various compositions.  The result showed that the optimum removal of TDS, barium, and phenol in produced water was achieved at a flow rate of sample 7 L/min and an operating time of 90 min. Ceramic filter with the composition of 60% spent catalyst without activation: 37.5% clay: 2.5% DHS reduced 34.84% TDS, 27.97% barium, and 71.11% phenol. While, the ceramic filter with a composition of 37.5% activated spent catalyst: 60% clay: 2.5% DHS was removed 51.44% TDS, 27.93% barium, and 85.29% phenol from produced water. The next steps of treatment of filtrates of the ceramic filter using reverse osmosis (RO) membrane showed that the permeate met the Indonesian standard for oil and gas wastewater. In addition, adsorption of TDS, barium, and phenol from produced water was dominated by clay composition in the ceramic filter.

A multilayer composite ceramic membrane was prepared by depositing a nano-scale layer of SiO2 on top of a modified porous alumina support by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The modification of the support was carried out by adding a graded layer of Al2O3 (g-alumina phase), using sol-gel method. An optimized temperature of 700 K for intermediate layer calcination was gained by XRD analysis. Crosssectional images obtained from SEM showed that the intermediate g-alumina layer had a thickness of about 2 mm and the top selective silica layer was quite dense and uniform with a thickness of about 90-100 nm. Permeation tests showed a very good flux of 10-6-10-7 mol m-2 s-2 Pa-1 for H2 with selectivities over CO2, N2 and CH4 up to 500. By performing different tests with various deposition times, it was concluded that by changing CVD time from 3 h to 6 h H2/CO2 selectivity increased from 32 to 573, although H2 permeation flux reduced about 50 percent.