Chrome Cation Removal Using Microfiltration Ceramic Membrane From Kaolinite

The increasing activity of the leather tanning industry has resulted in an increasing amount of liquid waste produced. The waste contains heavy metals which are harmful to the environment and human health. Therefore the waste needs to be managed so that the negative impact of this waste can be reduced. The increase in the amount of liquid waste has an impact on increasing the cost of treating this waste. Using inexpensive materials can reduce waste treatment costs. This research aims to make ceramic membranes for application in the processing of leather tanning wastewater. Natural kaolinite is abundant and cheap so it has the potential to produce cheap ceramic membranes. The ceramic membrane is made using kaolinite powder. Polyvinyl alcohol is used as a pore forming agent. The effect of increasing the amount of polyvinyl alcohol adding on membrane characteristics was studied. The variations of the polyvinylalcohol composition studied were 0%, 2%, 4% and 6%. The characteristics studied were porosity, morphology, flux, and membrane rejection. The results showed that the greater the polyvinyl alcohol composition, the higher porosity and membrane flux. The rejection value decreases with increasing amount of polyvinyl alcohol. The higher the polyvinyl alcohol composition resulted in an inhomogeneous membrane surface. The resulted membrane were categorized as microfiltration membrane which has membrane pore diameter range of 0.1-10 μm.