Water household ceramic filter candles are sintered porous elements based on aluminosilicates and characterized by having a large distribution of pores and grain sizes. Such filters are useful in the retention of microparticles in suspension by size exclusion; however they present low efficiency in microorganism and chemical contaminants removals. In order to increase its filtration capability, mainly concerning organic contaminants, surface modifications were conducted by SiO2 sol-gel dip-coating. Analysis revels that after SiO2 film densification an average reduction in 3.5 µm in pore size is measured what generates a slight decay permeation pressure. Nevertheless, the vitreous surface enhances the organofilicity increasing the bacteria removal efficiency, mainly at low permeation flux.
sol-gel; SiO2; ceramic filtration candles; filtration; sintering; bacteria removal
