New ceramic microfiltration membranes from Tunisian natural materials: Application for the cuttlefish effluents treatment

New microfiltration membranes from Tunisian natural materials are obtained using ceramic method. Paste from Tunisian silty marls refereed (M11) is extruded to elaborate a porous tubular configuration used as supports. The support heated at 1190 °C, shows an average pore diameters and porosity of about 9.2 μm and 49%, respectively. The properties in term of mechanical and corrosion resistances are very interesting. The elaboration of the layer based on Tunisian clay refereed (JM18) is performed by slip-casting method. The heating treatment at 900 °C leads to an average pore size of 0.18 μm. The water permeability determined of this membrane is 867 l h−1 m−2 bar−1. This membrane can be used for crossflow microfiltration. The application to the cuttlefish effluent clarification shows an important decrease of turbidity (inferior to 1 NTU) and chemical organic demand (COD) values (retention rate of about 65%). So, it seems that the prepared membrane is suitable for such wastewater treatment.