Preparation of a Porous, Sintered and Reaction-Bonded Si3N4 (SRBSN) Planar Membrane for Filtration of an Oil-in-Water Emulsion with High Flux Performance

Lin Li; Er-Ze Gao; Hamidreza Abadikhah; Jun-Wei Wang; Lu-Yuan Hao; Xin Xu; Simeon Agathopoulos

doi:10.3390/ma11060990

Materials (Jun 2018)

Preparation of a Porous, Sintered and Reaction-Bonded Si3N4 (SRBSN) Planar Membrane for Filtration of an Oil-in-Water Emulsion with High Flux Performance

Lin Li,
Er-Ze Gao,
Hamidreza Abadikhah,
Jun-Wei Wang,
Lu-Yuan Hao,
Xin Xu,
Simeon Agathopoulos

Affiliations

Lin Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Er-Ze Gao: Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Hamidreza Abadikhah: Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Jun-Wei Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Lu-Yuan Hao: Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Xin Xu: Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Simeon Agathopoulos: Materials Science and Engineering Department, University of Ioannina, GR-451 10 Ioannina, Greece

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma11060990
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 11, no. 6
p. 990

Abstract

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A porous, sintered, and reaction-bonded Si3N4 (SRBSN) planar membrane was prepared by phase-inversion tape-casting, nitridation (at 1350 °C), and sintering (at 1650 °C) of silicon slurry. The membrane was comprised of uniform rod-like β-Si3N4 crystals with a large length/diameter ratio and had high porosity and bending strength. The prepared membrane features a typical asymmetric structure with a skin layer, a sponge layer, and finger-like voids and an average pore size of 0.61 μm. A high permeation flux of 367 L m−2 h−1 and an oil rejection of 88.6% were recorded in oil-in-water emulsion separation experiments. These results suggest that SRBSN membranes have excellent potential for the treatment of oily wastewater.

Published in Materials

ISSN: 1996-1944 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Technology: Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering; Technology: Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General); Science: Natural history (General): Microscopy; Science: Physics: Descriptive and experimental mechanics
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/materials/

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