Abstract: Tubular porous ceramic membrane supports were prepared by extrusion molding and solid particle sintering method using fly ash as raw material.The thermal analysis of fly ash was determined by TG-DSC.The microstructure and phase composition of samples were analyzed by SEM and XRD.The property indexes such as the open porosity, compressive strength and air permeability were also measured.The influences of sintering temperature, holding time and pore former content on the performances of the supports were investigated.Results indicate that the phase of supports is mainly composed of hematite, andalusite and quartz.The excellent comprehensive performance tubular supports with open porosity of 44.95%, compressive strength of 8.92 MPa, and the air permeability of 2.57×104 m3·h-1·m-2·MPa-1 can be fabricated under the optimized conditions: sintering temperature being 1000 ℃, holding time of 2 h, binder of 1% and without adding pore former.

Key words: fly ash;support;porous ceramic membrane;sintering system