Obtenção e caracterização de membrana de diatomita com nanóxido de cálcio via tape casting para aplicação em sistema de dessalinização

Abstract

Currently, in a scenario of growing unsustainability regarding water resources, two main aspects are becoming alarming: the increase in the frequency of climate disasters (such as droughts and floods) and also the dangerous rise of watercourses contamination, which can lead to higher freshwater costs and its own scarcity. In this context, the process of desalination (distillation or reverse osmosis) has been one of the alternative solutions to obtain drinkable water and it has been widely used in Middle East countries such as Turkey, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, among others. In this work, multilayer membranes with laminates of 4, 5 and 6 layers of diatomite tape reinforced with nanometric calcium oxide were manufactured via tape casting and consolidated via thermal route, thermopressing, calcination and sintering. The starting powders were characterized via particle size and textural analysis (diatomite), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM-FEG) and thermogravimetric analysis. After the consolidation of the membrane, the transformation of amorphous silica into cristobalite via XRD was verified, the reduction of pore sizes, as well as the consolidation of the membrane, presenting monolithic behavior causing the reduction of the cross section via SEM, and bending tests were performed. made to investigate the influence of pore size on the mechanical properties of the nanocomposites produced. The results showed that the presence of calcium oxide promotes, the high sintering temperature and a greater number of laminates promoted the reduction of the pore size. Also, the gradual addition of layers increases bending resistance.