Effect of SnO2 Modification on Permeate Flux of Α-Al2O3 Microfiltration Membrane for Treating Fe(OH)2 Suspensions

To improve the permeate flux of ceramic membrane, commercial α-Al2O3 microfiltration membrane of 0.2 μm pore diameter was modified with SnO2 nano grains by in situ synthesis method. The permeate fluxes of the membrane for pure water and treating Fe(OH)2 suspensions were studied mainly in the paper. The results showed that the pure water stable permeate fluxes of unmodified and SnO2 modified microfiltration membranes were 0.61 m3h-1m-2 and 1.87 m3h-1m-2, respectively. When treating 1L 0.01 mol∙L-1 Fe(OH)2 suspensions, the permeate fluxes of SnO2 modified membrane was higher than that of unmodified membrane all the time and the clarified permeate was obtained. The results indicated that in situ synthesis method can be successfully used to modify α-Al2O3 microfiltration membrane with SnO2 nano grains for permeate flux increase, and the microfiltration membrane has excellent treatment effect on Fe(OH)2 suspensions. Furthermore, the enhancement mechanism of permeate flux of SnO2 modification microfiltration membrane was discussed initially.