Silicon carbide membrane development: from material via process design to industrial application. – DEMESIC2

The proposed methodology is an iterative process that relies on a central task dedicated to the manufacturing process and peripheral tasks on adapting SiC properties to optimized membrane elements.

-The tubular geometry filtration elements were produced by an industrial process.
The parameters of the porous phase such as connectivity, tortuosity, mean pore diameter equivalent, pore diameter distribution, distribution of constriction diameters were determined.
It has been demonstrated that the surface chemical state of the SiC membranes modifies the liquid / solid interactions and impacts the permeability of the membrane materials during the filtration process.

Ultimately, the project aims at a robust process for the manufacture of membrane modules capable of accelerating the development of integrated technologies for the treatment of water and meeting the criteria for a sustainable environment.

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An important technological breakthrough is going on in the field of ceramic membranes, thanks to the development and implementation in filtration systems of membranes based on silicon carbide (SiC). The reason is that SiC membranes have been showing decisive technical advantages over oxide ceramic membranes for large scale water and waste water filtration processes, such as surface water treatment, produced water recycling and water pre-treatment for drinking water production. These technical advantages can meet completely the specifications of this application and bring significant economic benefits in water treatment processes. The main objective of DEMESIC2 project is therefore to develop tailor-made SiC membranes for water filtration via a process design approach. An iterative process will be carried out with a central task devoted to the membrane manufacturing process. It will be supported by peripheral tasks related to SiC properties characterization and membranes performance evaluation in view of converging to membrane elements with optimized characteristics. At the end the project aims to provide a robust manufacturing process of SiC membrane elements which will boost the development of environmentally sustainable and competitive integrated membrane technologies for water treatment.