Inorganic membrane filtration articles and methods thereof
An inorganic membrane filtration article and methods for making the same. The membrane filtration article includes a sintered flow-through ceramic honeycomb with a plurality of partition walls defining a plurality of open channels from an inlet end of the honeycomb to an outlet end of the honeycomb. The honeycomb is formed from a cordierite composition with low-sodium and/or low-potassium content for enhanced filtration performance.
1. A membrane filtration article comprising:
a sintered flow-through ceramic honeycomb comprising a plurality of porous partition walls defining a plurality of open channels, the open channels extend in an axial direction from an inlet end to an outlet end of the honeycomb, and
a porous membrane layer with porosity from about 40% to about 60% on at least a portion of the porous partition walls,
wherein the plurality of partition walls include a composition comprising: Al 2 O 3 32-38 wt. %; SiO 2 47-53 wt. %; MgO 10-16 wt. %; Na 2 O 0.01-0.10 wt. %; CaO 0.01-0.15 wt. %; Fe 2 O 3 0.4-1.0 wt. %; NiO 0.001-0.01 wt. %; and TiO 2 0.1-0.5 wt. %;
wherein at least 95 wt. % of the composition of the porous partition walls is a cordierite crystalline phase,
wherein the porous membrane layer comprises at least 50 wt. % of a composition comprising:
Al 2 O 3 31-37 wt. %; SiO 2 45-51 wt. %; MgO 10-16 wt. % and (Na 2 O+K 2 O) 0.01-0.10 wt. %, and
wherein at least 95 wt. % of the composition of the porous membrane layer is a cordierite crystalline phase.
2. The article of claim 1 wherein the composition of the porous partition walls includes K 2 O 0.01-0.03 wt. %.
3. The article of claim 1 wherein the sintered flow-through ceramic honeycomb includes from 0.5 to 31 open channels per square centimeter of the inlet end.
4. The article of claim 1 wherein at least one of the porous partition walls have a thickness from 0.1 mm to 2.5 mm.
5. The article of claim 1 wherein the porous partition walls have pore diameters from about 1 micron to about 15 microns.
6. The article of claim 1 wherein the porous partition walls of the sintered flow-through ceramic honeycomb include a median pore diameter D50 from 2 microns to 10 microns.
7. The article of claim 1 wherein the composition of the porous membrane layer includes CaO 0.05-0.15 wt. %; Fe 2 O 3 0.3-1.0 wt. %; NiO 0.001-0.1 wt. %; and TiO 2 0.2-0.8 wt. %.
8. The article of claim 1 wherein the composition of the porous membrane layer includes Na 2 O 0.01-0.7 wt. % and K 2 O 0.01-0.03 wt. %.
9. The article of claim 1 wherein the composition of the porous membrane layer includes 1 wt. % to 50 wt. % alumina.
10. The article of claim 8 wherein the porous membrane layer includes a median thickness from about 5 microns to about 25 microns.
11. The article of claim 1 wherein the porous membrane layer includes pore diameters from about 0.1 micron to about 5 microns.
12. The article of claim 8 wherein the porous membrane layer includes a median pore diameter D50 from about 0.2 microns to about 3 microns.
13. The article of claim 8 wherein the porous partition walls of the sintered flow-through ceramic honeycomb having the porous membrane layer thereon have a water permeance from about 300 liters/hour/m 2 /bar to about 3,000 liters/hour/m 2 /bar.
14. The article of claim 1 wherein a subset of the open channels are plugged at the inlet end of the ceramic honeycomb.
15. The article of claim 1 wherein a subset of the open channels are plugged at the outlet end of the ceramic honeycomb.
16. A membrane filtration article comprising:
a sintered flow-through ceramic honeycomb comprising a plurality of porous partition walls defining a plurality of open channels, the open channels extend in an axial direction from an inlet end to an outlet end of the honeycomb, and
a porous membrane layer with porosity from about 40% to about 60% on at least a portion of the porous partition walls,
wherein the plurality of partition walls include a composition comprising: Al 2 O 3 32-38 wt. %; SiO 2 47-53 wt. %; MgO 10-16 wt. %; Na 2 O 0.01-0.10 wt. %: CaO 0.01-0.15 wt. %; Fe 2 O 3 0.4-1.0 wt. %; NiO 0.001-0.01 wt. %; and TiO 2 0.1-0.5 wt. %;
wherein at least 97 wt. % of the composition of the porous partition walls is a cordierite crystalline phase,
wherein the porous membrane layer comprises at least 50 wt. % of a composition comprising:
Al 2 O 3 31-37 wt. %; SiO 2 45-51 wt. %; MgO 10-16 wt. %; and (Na 2 O+K 2 O) 0.01-0.10 wt. %, and
wherein at least 97 wt. % of the composition of the porous membrane layer is a cordierite crystalline phase.
17. The article of claim 16 wherein the porous membrane layer further comprises from 1 wt. % to 50 wt. % alumina.
18. The article of claim 16 wherein a subset of the open channels are plugged at the inlet end of the ceramic honeycomb.
19. The article of claim 16 wherein a subset of the open channels are plugged at the outlet end of the ceramic honeycomb.