Application of An Organic Plant-Derived Binder in the Fabrication of Diatomaceous Earth Waste-Based Membranes for Water
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MRS Advances © 2020 Materials Research Society DOI: 10.1557/adv.2020.123
Application of An Organic Plant-Derived Binder in the Fabrication of Diatomaceous Earth WasteBased Membranes for Water Purification Systems Mary T. Simiyu1, Francis W. Nyongesa1, Bernard O. Aduda1, Zephania Birech1, and Godwin Mwebaze2 1
Department of Physics, University of Nairobi, P.O Box 30197-00100 Nairobi, Kenya
2
Makerere University, College of Engineering Design Art and Technology, Uganda
ABSTRACT
This work reports on the use of diatomaceous earth (DE) waste and organic binder derived from Corchorus olitorius, locally known as “Mrenda” in the design of an efficient water filtration membranes. Charcoal powder was incorporated to enhance the porosity of the membrane. The firing was done at temperatures varying from 700.0 °C to 1150.0 °C. The DE waste samples comprised 79.0% silica (by mass) and 11.0% total flux content compared to porter's clay that had 50.0% silica, 28.8% AL2O3 and 7.0% total flux content. On the other hand, the “Mrenda” binder contained 6.5% total organic matter. The use of the plantderived binder enhanced the mechanical strength of the greenware by 52.7% and the fired membranes by 152.2%. The fabricated DE waste-based membranes were 15.0% stronger than clay-based ceramic membranes prepared under similar conditions. A sintering temperature of 900.0 °C was optimal in producing porous membranes for filtering of 4.1 liters of water per hour. The pore diameter of the membranes fabricated from DE waste only ranged between 2.0 nm – 99.0 nm. On micro-organisms filtering efficacy, the DE waste-based membranes and those fabricated with 5.0% charcoal were 99.9% and 88.4% effective in the removal of E. coli and Rotavirus respectively.
INTRODUCTION Diatomaceous earth (DE) is made of fossils of diatoms which are planktonic single-cell aquatic organisms (1). When diatoms die, they get deposited on the shores of a water body and accumulate over a period of time (2). During
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volcanic eruptions, such water bodies die off leaving behind deposits of DE. Diatoms are made of natural silica (silicon dioxide) (3). In Kenya, freshwater DE is mined from the Great Rift valley (4). The capability of DE to purify water was discovered by engineer Wilhelm Berkefeld who developed a candle filter from DE that was used successfully in 1892 to handle the cholera epidemic in Hamburg (5). Since then, DE has found applicability in wine (6), and fruit juice (7) processing because of its filtering abilities. Despite the existing technologies in water purification, communities with low incomes, and not connected to piped water are more prone to water-borne diseases. On their own, these communities cannot afford the expensive methods of water purification. In this work, we revisit this ancient water purifi
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