Feasibility study of the hybrid adsorptive hollow fibre ceramic membrane (HFCM) derived from natural zeolite for the removal of ammonia in wastewater

The excessive presence of ammonia has led to serious potable water scarceness worldwide. This work aims to fabricate natural zeolite based hollow fibre ceramic membrane (HFCM) via phase inversion and sintering techniques for the ammonia removal in wastewater. The physical properties of the fabricated HFCM were investigated through morphologies, mechanical strength, dope suspension viscosity and pure water permeation also the performance test using synthetic wastewater. It was found that 5 cm, 15 mL/min and 1050 °C were the best fabrication conditions for the air – gap distance, bore fluid flow rate and sintering temperature, respectively. The membrane also revealed desired asymmetric structure, sufficient mechanical strength (50.92 MPa) and excellent pure water permeation flux (249.57 L/m2 h). Additionally, the ammonia removal gave an outstanding performance of 90% rejection. These findings show that natural zeolite based HFCM has a great potential to be developed as a single – step ammonia removal in wastewater.