The present paper is devoted to synthesis of porous ceramic support from local Moroccan clay (region of Agadir). This material has been dictated by their natural abundance (low price) and their beneficial properties. In this work, we were also interested in the development and the characterization of new mineral support for microfiltration and ultrafiltration membrane. The support, with flat configuration, was prepared from natural clay: the powder was crushed, sieved to 125 μm and mixed with organic additives and water. The obtained paste was then extruded to elaborate a porous structure. The firing temperature of the support is 800°C. After firing, the elaborated support showed an average pore diameter of 11 μm and a porosity of 41%. The average support permeability determined using pure distilled water is 1,805 L/h m² bar. This porous ceramic tube was used as support to prepare microfiltration membrane which were tested for the filtration.

The objective of this study is to develop a calcium carbonate-based adsorbent derived from Cellana Tramoscrica seashells, incorporated into a sodium alginate matrix (Na-Alg@CTs) to form hydrogel beads, for the efficient removal of Cu (II) and Zn (II) heavy metals from aqueous solutions. XRD, SEM/EDS, and FTIR analysis confirm the successful synthesis and characterization of the fabricated adsorbent. The adsorption study of Cu (II) and Zn (II) onto Na-Alg@CTs hydrogel beads revealed that the Langmuir model was the most suitable for characterizing the adsorption isotherms, suggesting monolayer coverage. Na-Alg@CTs exhibited a maximum Langmuir adsorption capacity of 368.58 mg/g and 1075.67 mg/g for Cu (II) and Zn (II), respectively. Additionally, the kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order model, indicating that the adsorption process is primarily governed by chemisorption. The thermodynamic study suggests that the uptake of metal ions on Na-Alg@CTs hydrogel beads is spontaneous and endothermic. The exceptional adsorption capacity, eco-friendly nature, and low-cost characteristics of Na-Alg@CTs hydrogel beads make them an ideal adsorbent for the removal of Cu (II) and Zn (II) from wastewater.

In the present study, the effect of Sintering temperature, Particle size and Heating rate of the ceramic support membrane Elaboration based on dry clay were evaluated using full factorial design and investigated by porosity and mechanical strength measures. The flat supports have been prepared from 5 g of the material with a two fraction 2 and 30 µm, the extrusion was performed using the uniaxial pressing in applicant a pressure of 12 tones, the supports sintered between 900° C and 1200°C with a different heating rate (1°C/min and 10°C/min). By using full factorial design 23, it was found that the sintering temperature is the main controlling factors of the physical properties of dry ceramic support membrane, and its increase had a positive effect on Mechanical strength and negative effect on porosity. The interactions between the factors were relatively less important, and they had different (antagonistic/synergetic) influence on the properties. The optimal factors to elaborate the support membrane include a particle size of 2 µm, sintering temperature of 950°C, Heating rate of 1°C predicting the porosity of 40, 8% and Mechanical strength of 12 MPa.

In the present study, the effect of zirconia powder content, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), Contact time and sintering temperature of zirconia microfiltration membrane elaboration were evaluated using Plackett-Burman design (PBD) and investigated by thickness and pore diameter. The zirconia microfiltration membrane has been prepared by the powder suspension technique. A deflocculated suspension of zirconia was obtained by mixing (5-10% w/w) of zirconia, (30-35% w/w) of PVA (12% w/w aqueous solution) as binder and water. The zirconia layer was deposited on the inner surface of clay support by slip casting with a contact time (2-5 min). After drying at room temperature, the ZrO2 membrane was sintered (800-1000°C) for 2 hours. By using PBD, sintering temperature, PVA and zirconia were recognized and selected as important effectives parameters of pore diameter; On the other hand, PVA and contact time were the main controlling parameters of the thickness of zirconia microfiltration layer. The optimal factors to elaborate the microfiltration membrane by using experimental design include a sintering temperature of 1000°C, zirconia content of 5%, PVA content of 30% and contact time of 2 min predicting a pores diameter of 0,24 µm and thickness of 24 µm.