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Preparation of porous mullite ceramic supports from high alumina fly ash

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Abstract

With the aid of dry pressing method, porous mullite ceramic supports were prepared successfully using desiliconized high alumina fly ash as main raw material, kaolin and alumina as auxiliary raw materials, and spherical graphite as pore-forming agent. The microstructure, bulk density, apparent porosity, water absorption, flexural strength and permeability of the ceramic supports were affected by the graphite dosage, sintering temperature and time. The mullite ceramic support with the addition 30 wt% graphite and sintered at 1400 °C for 2 h achieved the optimum comprehensive performances, whose apparent porosity, flexural strength and permeation flux achieved 55.7%, 8.5 MPa and 3.65 mL cm−2 min−1, respectively. After spin coated with the mixing sols of silica and alumina, and calcined at 1300 °C for 1 h, a layer of integrated and smooth mullite ceramic membrane was loaded on the support, and it attained the permeation flux of 3.41 mL cm−2 min−1. The obtained porous mullite ceramic support and membrane could be used as the filter materials for waste water treatment. This work is not only conducive to eliminate the environmental pollution caused by coal fly ash, but also save the resources, such as clay and alumina.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was sponsored by Henan Province Natural Science Foundation, China (grant number 212300410407) and Key Science and Technology Research Project of Henan, China (grant number 182102210005). We were grateful for the help from Modern analysis and gene sequencing center of Zhengzhou University, China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, No. 100, Science Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Zhentao Cui, Tianran Hao, Shuaifeng Yao & Hongliang Xu

  2. Henan Province Industrial Technology Research Institute of Resources and Materials, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Zhentao Cui & Shuaifeng Yao

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Cui, Z., Hao, T., Yao, S. et al. Preparation of porous mullite ceramic supports from high alumina fly ash. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 25, 1120–1129 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-023-01598-8

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