Effect of sintering temperature on clay ceramic water filters efficiency

Abstract

Billion cases of diarrhea occur worldwide each year that result in million deaths, for the lack of access to safe drinking water. Clean water is a key concern in many communities of developing countries. Household water treatment and safe storage methods, such as ceramic water filters, is one of the proven methods and have been shown to reduce diarrheal prevalence. The aim of this work was to develop a ceramic water filter with a better flow rate, which is capable to remove chemicals as well as microbial contaminants, by examining the effect of altering specific design variables. Ceramic water filters were developed from 60% of clay, 25% sawdust, 15% grog by volume and sintered in 800-950°C range at 50°C intervals with 5°C per minute heating and cooling rate for 6hrs.The developed ceramic filters were characterized with FESEM, EDX, XRD, pH meter, BET and FTIR. The better ceramic water filter with total porosity 32.95 ± 0.03, average pore diameter 50nm, flow rate 1.97± 0.23 and E .coli removal efficiency 99.05 ± 1.79 was developed from 60 % clay; sawdust 25%, 15 % grog by volume and sintered at 900°C for 6hrs.