Effect of activated carbon made from oil palm empty-fruit bunch and iron oxide powder on the performance of ceramic membrane

Abstract

The high cost of commercial membranes has boosted the search for alternative materials to be used as a substitute to facilitate the practical application of this technology. One of the most promising alternatives to commercial membranes is ceramic clay-based materials. Their low cost, natural availability, and long-term functional robustness make these cost-effective materials feasible for scaled-up systems. In this work, ceramic membranes containing different amounts of activated carbon were made from oil palm empty-fruit bunch (AC-OPEFB) (20, 15, and 10 wt%) and iron oxide powder (2.5 wt%). These membranes were utilised to remove contaminants of Fe, Mn, Zn, NH3–N, and PO4. The most favourable rejection percentages for each contaminant in this work are 92.03, 97.08, 99.67, 84.56, and 87.10%. The Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) analysis results show that the membrane surface area has an inverse relationship with AC-OPEFB composition (wt.%) contained in the membrane.

Keywords

• Ceramic membrane
• Clay
• Activated carbon
• Oil palm empty-fruit bunch
• Iron oxide powder