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Abstract
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In this research, the application of activated carbon and natural zeolite as absorbents and hydrophilic
agents in the structure of a low-cost and high performance tubular ceramic microfiltration membrane for
oily wastewater treatment was investigated. In this respect, Mullite, Mullite-Zeolite, and Mullite-ZeoliteActivated Carbon membranes were fabricated and characterized as ceramic MF membranes by using
kaolin clay, natural zeolite and activated carbon powder. Performance of these membranes were assessed
by comparing the quantity of permeationflux (PF) and total organic carbon (TOC) rejection during oily
wastewater treatment where harsh conditions such as high oil concentration in various concentration of
saline feed (0e200 g/L) were considered. Fouling and cleaning experiments were performed on oily
waste water using a laboratory scale cross-flow test unit when NaOH was selected as a cleaning agent.
Experimental results showed that the presence of activated carbon and natural zeolite in the structure
of the membrane can enhance the permeation flux and total organic carbon rejection. Also, the
permeationflux was highly dependent on the salt content of the feed solution. Actually, theflux
improved sharply with the increase of salt content from 0 to 50 g/L, and then reduced slightly with
further increase in salt concentration. In addition, total organic carbon rejection of up to 99.99% for
Mullite-Zeolite-Activated carbon membrane was observed. The results of cleaning membrane process
illustrated that the NaOH agent was able to clean the fouled MF membrane effectively. The exponential
triple smoothing model was also used to predict the permeationflux in long periods
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