Application of Suspension Plasma Spray Process for Fabricating Titanium Dioxide Water Filtration Membranes

Porous ceramic water filtration membranes with asymmetric structures are considered to be effective tools for removing pollutants from water. Depending on the contaminants of concern, submicron to a few micron-sized pores are essential for this application. Suspension plasma spray enables deposition of a few microns to nano-sized particles in a suspension to generate such a microstructure. Titanium dioxide has gained interest as water treatment membrane due to its mechanical, chemical and thermal stability. This study has been conducted in order to evaluate the potential of suspension plasma spray technique as an emerging process in filtration membrane fabrication. Aqueous suspension of submicrometer-sized titanium dioxide was used in fabrication of water treatment membranes. SEM and X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the microstructure and the crystalline structure of the coating, respectively. Porosity measurements were performed using image analysis technique and mercury intrusion porosimetry. Water permeability of the membranes was evaluated in a laboratory-scale dead end filtration cell.