Abstract
Porous tubular ceramic membranes from tunisian clay have been prepared. After a pre-calcination in air at 750°C for two hours, a grinding, and a sieving to 300 µm, natural clays noted SI1 and SI2 were mixed with organic additives in view to elaborate a ceramic paste which can be extruded to form porous tubular configuration with uniform porous structures. The mean pore diameter and the porous volume, measured by mercury porosimetry, are equal to 9.2 µm and 39 % for SI1 and 5.9 µm and 48 % for SI2 when they were repectively fired at 1040 °C and 1090°C. These supports could be used for the coatings of microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes.