High-quality support bodies

Ceramic support bodies for ceramic membranes can be made of various materials but we exclusively use pure Al2O3 due to its special properties. The high-quality material enables extremely long durability as well as excellent chemical and mechanical strength with very high water permeability at the same time.

 

Production in several complex steps

The production of our support bodies involves several complex production steps including temperature treatments up to almost 1,800°C/3,272°F which require special machinery and equipment as well as detailed expertise, experience and care.

Support bodies are manufactured in tubular shape and have one or more (up to 211) channels running parallel in longitudinal direction. Due to the large number of flow channels, this design offers a very high packing density and thus a very large filter surface in a small space, which also leads to a low footprint of the filtration plant.

Manufacturing process for optimum quality

The multi-stage manufacturing process includes the following steps which have a significant influence on the quality of the support bodies:

  1. Production of a ceramic mass: The ceramic mass consists of high-quality Al2O3 and organic components which are processed by mixing and kneading aggregates into a kind of kneading mass.
  2. Shaping: The support body tubes are extruded using a special extruder matched to the ceramic mass and the shape/design. This is where the different designs are created and cut to length. We are the only manufacturer who can produce lengths up to 1.5 m in compliance with the strict quality parameters.
  3. Drying: The extrudates are dried using a newly developed drying technique specially adapted to the ceramic mass to avoid drying cracks and deflections.
  4. Sintering: The dried green bodies are sintered in a high-temperature furnace at almost 1,800°C/3,272°F using heat recovery. Special kiln furniture (this is what the equipment in the combustion chamber is called) in the furnace ensures that the quality parameters regarding diameter tolerances and deflection are maintained. Although the high temperature causes high energy costs, these are more than compensated for by the resulting product quality, especially the long service life.

Meticulous quality inspections

To ensure the high quality of our support bodies and the membranes made from them, careful quality checks with extensive documentation and evaluation are performed between all production steps, which help us to constantly improve our products and production methods.