Preparation of Highly Permeable Al_2O_3 Hollow Fiber Membrane via Phase Inversion Method with Ethanol as External Coagulant

摘要

Highly permeable porous alumina (Al_2O_3) hollow fiber membranes have been developed by a combined phase inversion and sintering technique. Ethanol substituting for water was used as the external coagulant in order to prepare Al_2O_3 hollow fiber membranes with low trans-membrane resistance. The prepared Al_2O_3 membranes show a special asymmetric structure with an outer skin layer, highly porous inner surface and sub-layer composed of long and large finger-like pores. The influences of sintering temperature on the average pore size, N_2 permeability and bending strength were investigated. Results show that Al_2O_3 hollow fiber membranes with higher permeability can be prepared using ethanol as the external coagulant. The prepared Al_2O_3 hollow fiber membranes show a N_2 permeability of 871.5 m~3·m~(-2)·h~(-1)·bar~(-1) and a bending strength of 91.4 MPa when sintered at 1550°C for 5h.