Porous Clay Ceramic for Environmental Technologies

In the present work porous clay ceramic pellets (porosity ≤ 30 %) are investigated for the wastewater purification technologies. Calcareous and non-calcareous illite containing clays with different content of fine clay fraction (particle size ≤ 0.005 mm) are used. Sawdust in amount of 3 wt% for the increasing of porosity and surface area is used. Non-calcareous clays are also used for the production of ceramic materials with porosity ≥ 50 %. Pores are formed in result of chemical reaction in clay suspension of aluminium paste with water. After sintering of dry samples the sorption ability of covalent (iodine) and ionic (ammonia) compounds are determined. Sorption ability depends on many factors such as chemical composition of clay, sintering temperature, pore size distribution in the ceramic materials, surface area, pH of water after immersion of pellets and adsorbable substances.