Preparation of ceramic support for catalyst carrier from ceramic waste: Effect of sintering temperature

• Main Authors: Andas J. (Author), Fiesal, N.A.S (Author), Ibrahim, N. (Author), Mayappan R. (Author), Suhaidi, A.N (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Institute of Physics Inc. 2018
• Subjects: Ceramic; ceramic support; ceramic waste; sintering temperature
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher; View in Scopus
• ISBN: 0094243X (ISSN); 9780735417557 (ISBN)
• DOI: 10.1063/1.5066965

Ceramic support is a vital part in defining the quality of ceramic in term of mechanical strength. Fabrication of support has been considered as high cost and thus the reduction is a great opportunity. One of the alternatives is by utilizing ceramic waste. Ceramic wastes which contain high source of alumina and silica had been selected as raw material to be utilized in the fabrication of ceramic support. The objective of this research was to study the effect of sintering temperature by evaluating the phase characterization, porosity, average pore size and microstructure of the sintered samples of ceramic support as potential catalyst carrier. Ceramic wastes were initially crushed into powder and mixed with binder to form into cylindrical pellets. The fabrication of the support was carried out based on press moulding or compression techniques at pressure of 160MPa. Sintering temperatures were carried out in a range of 900 to 1200°C with an interval of 100°C for 2.5 hours. Results from XRF showed that the wastes contain high amount alumina (38.09%) and silica (57.17%) is suitable for fabrication of ceramic support. Based major crystalline phase of the sintered samples was mullite. However, fewer peaks were detected at 1200°C resulting to a decrease in the mullite crystal phase. Results from sintering showed that, with increasing of temperature, open porosity showed a decrease while average pore size increased. On the other hand, SEM observation on microstructure of the sintered samples showed higher densification at 1200°C compared to the other temperatures. In conclusion, the fabrication of ceramic support using ceramic waste as potential of catalyst carrier was able to be achieved. © 2018 Author(s).