Hierarchical membrane by centrifugal casting and effects of incorporating activated carbon as pore-former

Producing ceramic asymmetric membranes usually requires several steps to prepare macroporous support and then the selective layer deposition. This process is energy and time-consuming, which is expensive. In this sense, the one-step centrifugal casting technique is an interesting alternative. Therefore, this work aimed to prepare ultrafiltration ceramic membranes by the centrifugal casting method, investigating the effect of a pore-forming agent on membrane performance. Different concentrations of activated carbon were used in the alumina suspension, and then the tubes were molded, dried, and sintered. The membranes' shrinkage, morphology, apparent porosity, hydraulic permeance, and BSA protein retention were evaluated to identify the effect of using the pore-forming agent. The membrane prepared without activated carbon rejected 91% of the BSA molecules (66 kDa), indicating its molecular weight cut-off. Using more than 2.5% of activated carbon increased the porosity and hydraulic permeance of the membranes, but at the expense of low BSA retention.