Synthesis and characterization of faujasite zeolite membrane for selective enrichment of Arthrobacter sp. in synthetic wastewater.

This paper centers on the preparation and characterization of both a clay support and a faujasite zeolite membrane. Additionally, the study explores the development of bacterial media to assess the performance of these prepared membranes. The faujasite zeolite membrane was created using the hydrothermal method, involving the deposition of a faujasite layer to fine-tune the pore sizes of the clay support. The clay supports were crafted from clay which was sieved to particle size Φ ≤ 63 μm, and compacted with 3.0 wt.% activated carbon, then sintered at 1,000 °C. Distilled water fluxes revealed a decrease from 1,500 L m^-2 h^-1 to a minimum of 412 L m^-2 h^-1 after 180 min of filtration. Both membranes were characterized by XRF, XRD, FTIR, adsorption-desorption of nitrogen (N₂), and SEM-EDS. PCR technique was used for the identification of the isolated Arthrobacter sp., and the retention of the bacteria on the clay support and the faujasite zeolite membrane were found to be 96 and 99%, respectively. The results showed that the faujasite zeolite membrane passed the clay support due to a narrow pore size of the faujasite zeolite membrane of 2.28 nm compared to 3.55 nm for the clay supports.