Effect of pore characteristics on permeability of sintered diatomite filter for microfiltration

Abstract

Diatomite, because it is inherently porous and irregular, presents an interesting opportunity to investigate how the processing conditions of green bodies and the incorporation of spherical pores affect the final properties of a sintered ceramic filter. The water flux of a diatomite filter sintered at 1200°C was 6·3×10⁴ L m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹, which is higher than the water fluxes of typical ceramic filters such as spherical fly ash (1·6×10⁴ L m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹) ¹ , γ-alumina (∼1·0×10³ L m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹) ² and zirconia (1·6×10³ L m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹) ³ filters. The results obtained in this study show that the pressure applied during the processing of green bodies and the incorporation of spherical pores directly affect pore characteristics and accordingly determine the permeability of the sintered diatomite filters.