This work is the subject of an EPSRC-Tioxide Industrial CASE Award, the principal area of study being factors affecting the achievable steady state permeate flux during the crossflow microfiltration of concentrated titania dispersions. The performance of this continuous thickening process is of particular interest to Tioxide as a potential alternative to current batch filtration processes, which delay the manufacturing process.

The effective separation of ammonia from the synthesis loop in ammonia synthesis plants is an important step in its manufacture. This work presents the use of nanocomposite MFI zeolite membranes prepared by a pore-plugging method for this separation process. Performance of a zeolite membrane is highly dependent on the operating conditions. Therefore, the influences of differential pressure, temperature, sweep gas flow, feed gas flow and gas composition are studied experimentally. Transport of NH3 in this membrane is by surface diffusion in the intracrystalline (zeolite) pores in parallel with capillary condensation in the intercrystalline (non-zeolite) pores. The separation of NH3 from a mixture with H2 and N2 is by preferential adsorption of NH3, which hinders the permeation of weakly adsorbed H2 and N2. Differential pressure has only relatively small effects in the pressure range 300kPa – 1550kPa. Increase in sweep flow rate has little effect on NH3 gas permeance, but H2 and N2 permeances increase thereby decreasing the selectivities. Increase in feed flowrate also has little effect on NH3 permeance. However, the N2 and H2 permeances increase and there is a subsequent decrease in selectivities. Membrane performance was found to be highly dependent on temperature. NH3 permeance in the mixture increases linearly with temperature. NH3 selectivity was found to increase with temperature up to 353K after which it starts to decrease due to N2 and H2 permeances increasing with temperatures beyond 353K (αNH3/N2 = 46 and αNH3/H2 = 15) and is therefore the optimum temperature for separation. A potential barrier model is developed to describe the hindering effect of NH3 on H2 and N2 permeance. The model fails to predict correctly H2 and N2 permeances in the ternary mixture using pure gas (H2 and N2) permeances. Binary mixture permeation H2/N2 studies showed that there are diffusion effects (single file diffusion) that have not been taken into account in the potential barrier model. When permeances of the individual components in the binary mixture are used in the model instead of the pure gas permeances, there is an improved agreement between experimental and predicted results.

<p>Current global water scarcity and the spectre of a future critical shortage are driving the need for novel and energy saving water technology approaches. Desalination of seawater and the reuse of treated wastewater effluent, which have historically been viewed as undesirable water sources, are increasingly being explored as sources for reducing water consumption. Although the dominant technologies for taking these water sources to potable quality, energy consumption still makes them unsustainable for widespread application. Membrane distillation (MD) is an innovative water purification method that has shown promise as a technology that can address several of these issues. MD is a membrane process that produces very high quality product water. However, similarly to other thermal desalting processes, MD utilizes heat as the dominant source of energy rather than pressure, and can potentially be used to produce water at higher recoveries (and therefore less waste) than is feasible with existing approaches. Another important advantage of MD is that the water separation occurs at modest temperatures (<90oC), opening the door for the utilization of currently usable waste heat sources. Despite these advantages, MD is primarily a lab scale technology, and key questions concerning process performance, including flux magnitude, energy efficiency, fouling propensity, membrane performance, and long-term system performance must be addressed to fully vet this technology. </p><p>This work is represents an attempt to provide insight into several of these issues. The overarching approach taken throughout this project is the parallel evaluation of ceramic membranes alongside commonly used polymeric (PTFE) membranes. The combined factors of MD being a relatively nascent technology and the fundamental separation mechanism point toward initial real-world applications of MD for the treatment of high concentration water that may necessitate membranes exposure to harsher thermal and chemical environments. The robust and inert nature of ceramics make them ideal candidates for such application, although their hydrophilic surface do allow for direct implementation in MD. The first phase of this work details the evaluation of several candidate surface treatments for modifying ceramic membranes and shows that aluminum oxide ceramic membranes can be successfully modified with perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane to possess the necessary hydrophobicity for MD application. The effectiveness of the surface treatment in modifying the membrane surface chemistry was assessed using a multitude of analytical approaches, which showed that the modified ceramic surface attained high hydrophobicity and thus are suitable for application of the membranes in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD).</p><p>The next phase of research details the development and verification of a model for DCMD performance. The relative membrane performance was compared, with the polymeric membrane consistently outperforming the modified ceramics, which was attributed to a combination of superior thermal and physical membrane characteristics. Beyond attempting to evaluate the performance differences, this model allows the consideration of various operational scenarios, focusing on membrane flux and energy performance as various membrane and operational parameters change to determine conditions that maximize MD performance as well as provide insight critical to develop MD-specific membranes. </p><p>Finally, membrane performance was evaluated during the treatment water containing various organic foulants as well for the treatment of municipal wastewater. The results showed that the level of fouling was highly dependent on foulant type, with alginate identified as a component that produces severe fouling under all conditions evaluated, and wastewater fouling being relatively minimal. Membrane cleaning solutions were implemented to show that near-complete flux recovery was attainable, and plain deionized water was shown to be as effective as sodium hypochlorite.</p> / Dissertation

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering: Chemical Engineering, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2018. / Industrial development is associated with an increase in pollution levels and rising fuel prices. Research on clean energy contributes to reduction of fossil fuel dependency, decrease in ozone layer depletion and reduction in emission of toxic gases. The development of renewable energies increases the energy independence and reduces the impact of environmental pollution from fossil fuels. The biodiesel market is among the fastest growing renewable energy markets and its demand in the energy sector has tremendously increased over the last decade due to its environmental friendly qualities. Biodiesel is considered as a promising diesel fuel substitute based on the similarities of its properties with that of petroleum based diesel fuel. However, the high cost of the feedstock, environmental pollution as a result of wastewater generated from a homogeneous process has limited its full implementation. In addition, other technical challenges encountered during the production such as the immiscibility of the reagents and the reversibility of the transesterification reaction calls for innovative technologies to be developed. One promising solution to these issues is the use of membrane technology to serve as a reaction and separating medium for the production of biodiesel. This study is aimed at optimizing biodiesel production from vegetable oils using heterogeneous catalysts in a ceramic membrane. The objectives were to evaluate the performance of calcium oxide (CaO) as a catalyst supported on activated carbon in a membrane reactor for biodiesel production. Further still, to evaluate the membrane performance regarding permeate quality and to optimize the process using design of experiment. The final objective was to investigate the influence of operating parameters such as temperature, methanol/oil ratio, catalyst amount and reaction time on biodiesel yield. The transesterification of soya bean oil with methanol in the presence of a supported catalyst was carried out on a laboratory scale. The membrane reactor was designed and assembled for this purpose. The membrane reactor integrated many procedures such as combining reaction and separation in a single unit, continuous mixing of raw materials and maintaining high mass transfer between the immiscible phases during the reaction. The effect of the process parameters on the biodiesel production and FAME (fatty acid methyl ester) yields were investigated. One factor at a time (OFAT) experiments were conducted to identify the optimum range of the yield. The membrane reactor produced a permeate stream which separated at room temperature into a FAME rich non-polar phase and a methanol polar phase. The optimum range was between 90% - 94% within a reaction time of 60 – 180 minutes, methanol to oil ratio 3:1 - 9:1 and temperature range of 60 0C - 70 0C. Methyl ester produced met the ASTM D6751 and SANS 1935 specifications. The response surface methodology (RSM) based on the central composite design (CCD) was used to optimize the process. The optimization experiments were conducted around the optimum range established by the OFAT method. The optimum condition for transesterification of soya bean oil to fatty acid methyl ester was obtained at 3 g/L catalyst concentration, 65 0C temperature, 4.5:1 methanol to oil molar ratio and 90 minutes reaction time. At these optimum conditions, the FAME yield was 96.9 %, which is well within the yield of 97.7 % as predicted by the model. In conclusion, this work presents a study of high quality biodiesel production using a ceramic membrane reactor with the advantage of selectively permeating FAME and methanol. This study therefore showed that the use of a membrane for biodiesel production conserved water for other purposes; eliminates the purification step and wastewater generation thereby reducing the cost of biodiesel production. / M

A novel approach to enhance the concentration of Carbon dioxide to economic scale using low efficient Inorganic Ceramic membranes has been proposed. This was achieved by the addition of second and third stage permeation trains to the existing low CO2 recovering Ceramic Inorganic membranes. The Inorganic Ceramic membrane development involved modification of Alpha Alumina support with Gamma Alumina for improved surface area. Further modifications with Magnesium Oxide and Silicon Elastomer showed increase in the selectivity of Carbon dioxide molecules over Nitrogen, Methane, Argon, and Helium molecules, both in pure and mixture forms. A simulated flue gas feed concentration of CO2-14% and N2-86% was found to be concentrated more than 90% of CO2. The Carbon dioxide permeability was found to decrease as the membrane thickness and number of dipping increased, whereas, the selectivity of the Carbon dioxide over Nitrogen, Argon, Helium and Methane molecules improved with the use of modified membranes compared to membrane support only. The testing of the fabricated membrane demonstrated that modified membrane at third stage permeation at a pressure drop of 9.00KPa and operating temperature of 296K was capable of recovering more than 90% of Carbon dioxide from a feed gas mixture of 14%-CO2 and N2-86%.The permeability of the Carbon dioxide gas molecules that was recovered at the above listed operating conditions was 4.26X10-12 (mol.m/m2.s.Pa). This was achieved by surface flow mechanism and membrane pore sizes estimated were found to be macroporoes and mesopores with their EDXA and SEM images. A numerical algorithm was used to estimate the errors. The error was found to decrease as the permeation value increases.

Tout être vivant a besoin d'eau pour survivre. Cette ressource occupe une place importante parmi les éléments nécessaires à la vie sur le globe terrestre. Ainsi, il est essentiel d'avoir accès à une eau parfaitement sécurisée et pure. Ceci représente un des enjeux économique et sociétal majeurs qui ont poussé les acteurs industriels du domaine de l'eau à innover technologiquement pour développer de nouveaux procédés de traitement. Les membranes et les technologies membranaires s'imposent comme une solution innovante de développement durable pour répondre à cette problématique. C'est dans ce cadre que se place ce travail de thèse dont l'objectif est de produire un dispositif de traitement des eaux en valorisant les ressources naturelles libanaises. Les argiles collectées se sont avérées aptes au frittage et la température de calcination permettant d'obtenir un matériau consolidé se situe dans la gamme 950°C - 1200°C. Ces conditions de traitement thermique permettent de conserver une certaine porosité en vue d'une utilisation comme support membranaire. Avant le dépôt de la couche active en carbone bio-sourcé sur ces supports, une filtration préliminaire d'organismes pathogènes a été réalisée. Afin d'éviter la formation de biofilms à la surface des supports en argile, des diffuseurs d'huiles essentielles ont été développés. Ces derniers, connus depuis la haute antiquité pour leurs effets bactéricides et fongicides ont remplacé l'utilisation des antibiotiques pour diverses maladies. Dans ce contexte, des huiles essentielles issues de la lavande, du romarin et de l'origan ont été extraites et diffusées dans l'eau à travers les supports en argile. Parallèlement, des membranes en carbone bio-sourcé ont été réalisées à partir des sous-produits issus des industries agroalimentaires libanaises. Des nanoparticules de carbone ont été synthétisées par carbonisation hydrothermale à partir de déchets de bière puis déposées par spin-coating et slip-casting sur les supports membranaires à base d'argiles et des supports commerciaux de caractéristiques variées. / Providing people worldwide an access to clean and safe water is one of the most motivating scientific and economical challenges of our modern society. Water purification and remediation can be afforded by membrane technology. The preparation of membranes using low-cost and locally-available resources appears as an economically-competitive solution. This drawback may be considered in the framework of a sustainable chemistry approach. In this context, our work is focused on the elaboration of supports and membranes from Lebanese resources. For this purpose, ceramic supports were developed from natural clays. Inorganic bio-sourced carbon membranes were prepared from by-products of the Lebanese agro-alimentary industries.The thermal treatment required to ensure the support adequate properties was fixed around 950°C - 1200°C. Clay supports (flat and tubular) were elaborated by extrusion and roll-pressing of plastic clay green pastes. Before the deposition of the carbon membrane active layer, it was necessary to filtrate bacteria to avoid and/or limit biofouling. Indeed, microorganisms especially bacteria represent a possible cause of human diseases proliferation. Drinkable water should be thus disinfected to ensure the health of the population and notably in the third countries. It is well known that the essential oils extracted from aromatic plants were used as remedies for many diseases, to prevent the possible side effects of antibiotics. In this context, lavender, rosemary and oregano were diffused through clay ceramic supports to prevent all types of bacteria and biomass film growth in the water tanks.At the same time, a sustainable route to carbon membranes was developed using by-products of food industries. Starting from wastes of Lebanon beers, carbon nanoparticles were synthetized by hydrothermal carbonization. The carbon colloids were then deposited on the clay-based supports to form carbon membranes by slip-casting and spin-coating.

Submitted by Maria Medeiros (maria.dilva1@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-10-04T12:26:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 FERNANDO ALMEIDA DA SILVA - TESE (PPGEP) 2009.pdf: 5875918 bytes, checksum: 93c5b10ae310f33943ce3b71854ef0bf (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-04T12:26:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FERNANDO ALMEIDA DA SILVA - TESE (PPGEP) 2009.pdf: 5875918 bytes, checksum: 93c5b10ae310f33943ce3b71854ef0bf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-11 / Atualmente os processos de separação por membranas estão em pleno desenvolvimento. As membranas de cerâmica encontram larga aplicação, principalmente em processos cujas temperaturas de trabalho são superiores à 250 ºC, como também, na separação de soluções em que o pH seja extremamente ácido, ou até mesmo quando houver presença de solventes orgânicos no sistema. Este trabalho consiste na preparação de membranas tubulares, obtidas a partir de duas composições contendo argila, caulim e óxido de alumínio, conformadas pelo processo de extrusão, utilizando diferentes temperaturas na etapa de sinterização para uso em microfiltração. Foi feita caracterização nas massas cerâmicas antes da sinterização, através dos ensaios de análise granulométrica, análise termogravimétrica, análise química e difração de raios X. As análises químicas mostraram altos teores de SiO2 e de Al2O3 e os ensaios de difração de raios X mostraram a presença de caulinita, quartzo e óxido de alumínio em ambas as composições. Foram feitos ensaios de difração de raios X nas massas após as sinterizações e os resultados mostraram a presença de mulita, óxido de alumínio e quartzo em todas as sinterizações efetuadas. Com relação ao tamanho e a distribuição destes poros nas membranas, os resultados das micrografias e de porosimetria por intrusão de mercúrio mostraram a presença de poros em todas as temperaturas de sinterização, com dimensões na faixa de microfiltração. Os ensaios de fluxo com escoamento tangencial utilizando água dessalinizada mostraram na composição 1 que as membranas sinterizadas a 1300 ºC obtiveram maior valor. Quanto a composição 2, o maior fluxo foi obtido pela membrana sinterizada a 1150 ºC. Os valores médios dos fluxos utilizando tanto a água dessalinizada quanto a água do açude Epitácio Pessoa, encontrados nas membranas sinterizadas nas temperaturas de 1150, 1200, 1250 e 1300 ºC da composição 1 foram bem maiores que os observados nas membranas da composição 2. Com relação à aplicação das membranas no tratamento da água do açude Epitácio Pessoa, verificou-se que a turbidez da água foi reduzida de 7,1 UTN para valores próximos de zero para todas as membranas estudadas. / Membrane separation processes has experienced a great development recently. Ceramic membranes are applied in several processes, mainly in application in which temperatures are above 250 oC, as well in separation of solutions with extremely acid pH and even in systems with organic solvents. The aim of this work is to prepare tubular ceramic membranes by extrusion using two different compositions containing ball clays, kaolin and alumina and to fire in different sintering temperatures to be applied in microfiltration process. It was done the characterization of the ceramic compositions before sintering, particles size, thermogravimetrics analysis, chemicals analysis and X-ray diffraction. The chemicals analysis showed great amount of SiO2 and Al2O3 and the X-ray results showed the presence of kaolinite, quartz and alumina in the both compositions. The results from X-ray diffraction of the ceramic body after sintering showed the presence of mullite, alumina and quartz. The SEM images and the results from mercury porosimetry showed the presence of pores in all sintering temperatures and pore size in the range of microfiltration. The results from pure water flux, at steady state, showed that the membranes prepared with composition 1 and sintering at temperature of 1300 oC presented the highest value. To the membranes prepared with composition 2 and sintering temperature of 1150 oC presented the highest value. The pure water flux value of the membranes prepared with composition 1 was bigger than the membranes prepared with composition 2. In relation to the use of these membranes to water treatment from Epitácio Pessoa Dam, the results showed that the water turbidity decrease from 7.1 NTU to values close to zero for the all studied membranes.

Orientador: Luiz Antonio Viotto / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-10T04:16:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Basso_RodrigoCorrea_M.pdf: 482166 bytes, checksum: 274056e4fb8fdec08c2594a66d1e9e9c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Tendo como objetivo avaliar o processo de limpeza de uma membrana cerâmica de diâmetro de poro de 0,01mm, foram realizadas oito corridas de ultrafiltração com uma miscela de óleo bruto de soja e hexano de composição constante, sempre nas mesmas condições operacionais: temperatura de 40°C, pressão transmembrana de 1,0bar e velocidade tangencial de escoamento de 3,4m/s. Após cada uma das ultrafiltrações, foi avaliada a influência dos parâmetros pressão transmembrana, velocidade tangencial de escoamento e abertura da válvula de permeado no processo de limpeza, feito apenas pela recirculação de hexano. Foi testada a associação de quatro diferentes condições de limpeza: baixa pressão transmembrana (0,5bar) e elevada velocidade tangencial de escoamento (5,0m/s); elevada pressão transmembrana (2,0bar) e baixa velocidade tangencial de escoamento (1,0m/s); pressão transmembrana e velocidade tangecial de escoamento intermediárias, 1,0bar e 3,4m/s, respectivamente; baixa pressão transmembrana (0,5bar) e elevada velocidade tangencial de escoamento (5,0m/s), mantendo sempre a válvula de permeado aberta. A melhor condição de limpeza obtida foi a associação de baixa pressão transmembrana e elevada velocidade tangencial de escoamento que conseguiu recuperar o fluxo da membrana em aproximadamente 85 minutos. Foram calculadas as resistências intrínseca da mebrana, da camada gel polarizada e do ¿fouling¿, e foi constatado que na limpeza a própria membrana exerce a maior resistência ao fluxo de permeado, seguida pela do ¿fouling¿ e pela da camada gel polarizada. Foram ainda explorados os processos de concentração e diafiltração, realizados em membrana cerâmica de 0,01mm, na obtenção e purificação da lecitina de soja a partir dos retentados resultantes dos processos de ultrafiltração da miscela de óleo bruto de soja e hexano. O retentado foi concentrado até um fator de concentração de 9,6 e diafiltrado, utilizando dois e quatro ciclos. A lecitina obtida teve um teor de insolúveis em acetona, respectivamente para dois e quatro ciclos de diafiltração, de 69,7 e 90,7% / Abstract: One of the objectives of this work was to study the cleaning process of a 0.01mm pore size ceramic membrane. The operational conditions used at eigth ultrafiltration process realized were 40°C of temperature and 1.0bar and 3.4m/s of transmembrane pressure and cross flow velocity. After each ultrafiltration it have been studied the influence of transmembrane pressure, tangential flow velocity and permeate valve position on the membrane cleaning process realized by pure hexane recirculation. Four different cleaning associated conditions were tested: low transmembrane pressure (0.5bar) and high cross flow velocity (5.0m/s); high transmembrane pressure (2.0bar) and low cross flow velocity (1.0m/s); intermediate transmembrane pressure and cross flow velocity, 1.0bar 3.4m/s; low transmembrane pressure (0.5bar) and high tangential flow velocity (5.0m/s) keeping permeate valve opened. The best condition evaluated to membrane cleaning process was the application of high cross flow velocity and low transmembrane pressure that have been recovered the original flux, took with pure hexane, in 85 minutes. The intrinsic membrane resistance, fouling resistance and polarized gel layer resistance were calculated and was concluded that the major resistance to permeate flux was the intrinsic membrane resistance followed by fouling resistance and polarized gel layer resistance. Concentration and diafiltration process in 0.01mm pore size ceramic membrane have been studied in extraction and purification of soybean lecithin from ultrafiltrations retentate. The retentate had concentrated until a concentration factor of 3 and diafiltrated using two and four cicles. The soybean lecithin purified using two and four diafiltrations cicles result in an acetone insoluble matter of 69.7 and 90.7% respectively / Mestrado / Mestre em Engenharia de Alimentos

Biogas is becoming a more important source of green, renewable energy however, its production results in a liquid wastewater, known as centrate, which must be treated due to its high levels of total dissolved solids (TDS), and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Currently, biogas generation facilities treat centrate using a combination of biological and physical treatments (via a membrane bioreactor (MBR)), which produces a stream known as MBR permeate. While MBR permeate achieves improved quality, MBR usage has several challenges including difficulty of scaling biological processes, and handling capacity limitations. In this study, membrane only treatment of centrate, collected from an operating biogas generation facility, was investigated to determine if similar quality permeates could be obtained without any biological treatments. Single- stage treatment of centrate using either polymeric or ceramic nanofiltration membranes with molecular weight cut offs between 400 and 800 Da, produced a permeate similar to MBR permeate. These membrane types caused average COD rejections of 92% and 90% respectively. However, the permeates from the nanofiltration membranes had very high levels of ammonia, which was not present in the MBR permeate. The ceramic nanofiltration membranes can achieve higher permeate fluxes than the polymeric nanofiltration membranes. Both membrane types experienced significant fouling which was removed using cleaning procedures. Two-stage treatment of centrate using ceramic nanofiltration membranes followed by polymeric reverse osmosis membranes further improved the quality of permeate and achieved COD rejections of 99% overall. While the reverse osmosis membranes did remove some ammonia, the levels were still higher than what was seen in the MBR permeate. The two-stage treatment of centrate can provide the permeate which is closest to the MBR permeate however, further studies are required to address the higher ammonia concentration values. The research shows that only using membranes is a potential treatment pathway for real centrate samples. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc) / The production of biogas, which is a green, renewable energy source results in a liquid wastewater known as centrate. This wastewater is very dirty and complex and requires treatment as it cannot be dumped and disposed of in its current state. Current treatment methods for centrate use combinations of biological treatment and filtration processes, which has its own challenges due to the complexity of biological treatments. An alternative treatment method for the centrate is nanofiltration membranes which offer the ability to treat large volumes of centrate wastewater without the complexity of relying on biological treatment options. Four different nanofiltration membranes, including two polymeric and two ceramic membranes, were used to treat real industrial wastewater samples of centrate collected from a biogas generation facility. Both types of nanofiltration membranes provided similar quality permeate to the current treatment method of centrate, which uses a combination of biological and physical treatment methods.

Esta tese descreve o projeto e manufatura de membranas cerâmicas para separação de emulsões óleo/água. A escolha correta do material para a fabricação de membranas é importante para processos cujo desempenho depende da afinidade entre o meio poroso e o fluido. As condições de manufatura são também importantes, pois determinam a morfologia da membrana, que influencia fortemente as propriedades de transporte e conseqüentemente, a eficiência da membrana. Tendo isso em vista, este trabalho teve como objetivo desenvolver membranas cerâmicas tubulares (porosas e densas) por prensagem isostática, aplicáveis em processos de microfiltração para a separação de emulsões óleo-água. Para tanto, foi realizado um controle rigoroso do tamanho e distribuição dos poros através do uso da sacarose como agente porogênico. Suspensões de alumina e zircônia com sacarose de diferentes dimensões foram preparadas. Após esse processo a barbotina foi seca e granulada para obtenção do pó usado na conformação das membranas porosas ou como suporte das membranas densas. Para a manufatura das membranas densas, uma fina camada da suspensão foi depositada no núcleo do molde que foi preenchido com o pó (de alumina ou zircônia) e então submetido à co-prensagem (isostática) para obter simultaneamente o suporte e o filme de zircônia. Posteriormente, as membranas (porosas e densas) sofreram um tratamento térmico (para queima parcial da sacarose) e foram sinterizadas (a 1500°C). As membranas foram caracterizadas por MEV, porosimetria por intrusão de mercúrio, medidas de peso por imersão (para obtenção da porosidade e densidade aparente), ensaios de permeabilidade ao ar e à água. A caracterização morfológica das membranas constatou a formação de membranas porosas de alumina e de zircônia e de membranas densas: uma integral (\'ZR\'\'O IND.2\'/\'ZR\'\'O IND.2\') e outra composta (\'ZR\'\'O IND.2\'/\'AL IND.2\'\'O IND.3\'). A análise de porosimetria por intrusão de mercúrio apresentou tamanho médio de poros de 1,8 \'mü\'m para as membranas porosas e de 0,01-0,03 \'mü\'m e 1,8 \'mü\'m para as membranas densas, respectivamente para camada seletiva e suporte. Todas as membranas obtiveram porosidade total de aproximadamente 50%, que é considerada uma porosidade satisfatória. Os ensaios de permeabilidade ao ar demonstraram que as membranas de zircônia obtiveram maior permeabilidade do que as membranas de alumina. Já os ensaios de permeação de água, na condição de fluxo tangencial, mostraram que as membranas porosas apresentaram maior fluxo transmembrana do que as membranas densas, na mesma velocidade de escoamento. As membranas densas e porosas foram testadas na separação óleo-água e a maioria apresentou bom desempenho no processo de microfiltração e alta rejeição da fase óleo (entre 98 e 99%). Dentre essas membranas, a membrana densa composta (sinterizada a 1400°C) foi a que obteve melhor desempenho, pois apresentou fluxo permeado de aproximadamente 230 L/h.\'M POT.2\' e coeficiente de rejeição médio de 99,77%, os quais são valores desejáveis para a aplicação de membranas em processos industriais. / This thesis describes the project and manufacture of ceramic membranes for separation of oil/water emulsions. The selection of raw material for the manufacture of membranes is fundamental in processes whose performance depends on the affinity between the porous medium and the fluid. The manufacturing conditions are also important as they determine the membrane\'s morphology. Such morphology strongly influences the transport properties hence the membrane\'s performance. In this context, this work aims to develop tubular ceramic membranes (porous and asymmetric) by isostatic pressing which will be applicable to microfiltration processes for the oil-water emulsions separation. For such a purpose, a rigorous control was realized on the distribution and size of pores by use of the sucrose as porogenic agent. Suspensions of zirconia and alumina with sucrose of different dimensions were prepared. After that process, the slurry was dried and granulated to obtain the dust used in the manufacture of the membranes. For the manufacture of the supported zirconia membranes, a thin layer of suspension was deposited onto the nucleus of the mould, which was filled with the dust (of alumina or zirconia) and then, it was subjected to co-pressing (isostatic) to obtain the support and the zirconia top-layer, simultaneously. Next, the porous and supported membranes underwent a thermal treatment (for a partial burning of sucrose) and were sintered (until 1500°C). They were characterized by SEM, porosimetry by mercury intrusion, measurements of weight by immersion (for the determination of the apparent porosity and density) and water and air permeability tests. The morphologic characterization of membranes identified the formation of zirconia and alumina porous membranes, an asymmetric \'ZR\'\'O IND.2\' membrane (zirconia top-layer on the porous zirconia support) and a supported \'ZR\'\'O IND.2\'/\'AL IND.2\'\'O IND.3\' composite membrane. The results of porosimetry analysis by mercury intrusion presented a mean pore size of 1,8 \'mü\'m for the porous membranes and for the other membranes, 0,01-0,03 \'mü\'m and 1,8 \'mü\'m, respectively, for the top-layer and support. All membranes achieved a total porosity of about 50%, which is considered a satisfactory porosity. The air permeability tests showed that the zirconia membranes achieved higher permeability than the alumina membranes. Otherwise, the water permeation tests in cross-flow condition showed that the porous membranes (of alumina and zirconia) presented higher transmembrane flow than the asymmetric \'ZR\'\'O IND.2\' and supported \'ZR\'\'O IND.2\'/\'AL IND.2\'\'O IND.3\' composite membranes in the same flow average velocity. Such membranes were applied to oil-water emulsions separation and the most they presented good performance in the microfiltration process and high rejection of oil phase (between 98 and 99%). Among those membranes, the zirconia supported membrane (sintered until 1400°C) obtained the most performance because it showed transmembrana flow of about 230 L/h.\'M POT.2\' e rejection coefficient of 99,77%, which are appreciable values for the application of membranes in industrial processes.