Potential use of blast furnace slag for filtration membranes preparation: A pilot study

Abstract

This paper investigates the possibilities of the use of sodium hydroxide activated blast furnace slag for preparation of filtration barriers. The motivation for this research is searching for cheaper and more eco-friendly alternative to sintering, which is commonly used for filtration membranes preparation. Such an alternative could be alkaline activation, which is able to bind slag particles together. Low amount of activator, low water to slag (w/s) ratio together with pressure compaction was used to obtain microstructure with preserved continuous porosity. To confirm this presumption scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) analyses were carried out.This paper investigates the possibilities of the use of sodium hydroxide activated blast furnace slag for preparation of filtration barriers. The motivation for this research is searching for cheaper and more eco-friendly alternative to sintering, which is commonly used for filtration membranes preparation. Such an alternative could be alkaline activation, which is able to bind slag particles together. Low amount of activator, low water to slag (w/s) ratio together with pressure compaction was used to obtain microstructure with preserved continuous porosity. To confirm this presumption scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) analyses were carried out.