Characterization of Gamma-Alumina Ceramic Membrane
This paper presents the experimental results of different methods of characterization carried out on a gamma alumina ceramic membrane. A commercial gamma alumina mesoporous membrane has been used. The pore size, specific surface area and pore size distrib
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Characterization of Gamma-Alumina Ceramic Membrane Ifeyinwa Orakwe, Ngozi Nwogu and Edward Gobina
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Introduction
Membrane technology has drawn so much attention over the past 50 years with the initial aim of employing membranes for the separation of certain gases as well as for large scale gas diffusion for uranium isotope separations [1–3]. Alumina ceramic membranes in particular have drawn the attention of researchers as a result of its unique properties for example showing high chemical resistance and mechanical strength and are also known to withstand high temperature and pressure [4]. The term “ceramic membrane” could be seen as a semi permeable barrier consisting of metallic oxides which could be porous or dense in structure [5]. These membranes are usually asymmetric in structure, consisting of a few layers of one or more of different materials with graduated pore sizes. These ceramic membranes could be grouped based on their pore sizes in to microporous, mesoporous, macroporous or dense supports [6]. The microporous supports have pore sizes less than 2 nm and are suitable for micropore diffusion mechanisms. The mesoporous supports go in a range of pore sizes between 2–50 nm and are known to play significant roles in Knudsen diffusion mechanism. The macroporous supports have pore sizes greater than 50 nm and are applicable to sieving mechanism while the dense membranes are best known for mechanisms involving diffusion [5].
I. Orakwe ⋅ N. Nwogu ⋅ E. Gobina (✉) Centre for Process Integration and Membrane Technology (CPIMT), School of Engineering, The Robert Gordon University Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB10 7GJ, UK e-mail: [email protected] I. Orakwe e-mail: [email protected] N. Nwogu e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 S.-I. Ao et al. (eds.), Transactions on Engineering Technologies, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2717-8_40
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The membrane makeup constitutes either or a combination of the following: titanium oxide (TiO2), zirconium oxide (ZrO2), silicon oxide (SiO2) or aluminium oxide (Al2O3) [4–6]. In this study, an alumina ceramic membrane was chosen. The support is made up of ceramic material composed of a gamma-alumina and a wash coat of titania. The titania creates some surface roughness responsible for enhancing adhesion and dispersion of catalyst particles if required for further modification or experimental analysis. The gamma alumina ceramic membrane is classified under the mesoporous type since its pore size was 3.3 nm. To mention but a few advantages are its chemical stability, narrow pore size distribution, mechanical strength and durability [6]. This paper presents the characterization of the gamma alumina ceramic membrane employing three techniques: Scanning electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption desorption and gas permeation at varying temperatures. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is an important parameter used to study the morphology of a membrane. This is commonly achieved through the use of a scanning electron imaging at different
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