Mohieddine Fourati

Elaboration of membrane ceramic supports using aluminum powder

AbstractIn this paper, two different processing ways have been presented and have led to two support shapes with particular interest: tubular and flat configurations, which are currently the most used supports in membrane research. Porous cermet supports for membrane substrate in tubular and flat configurations have been prepared from kaolin and aluminum powder mixtures. Tubular configurations were produced by an extrusion method, whereas flat configurations were obtained by dry pressing. Our findings demonstrate that the addition of metal ratio to kaolin matrix has a positive effect on the porosity of supports compared to those prepared from kaolin alone and has two conflicting effects on mechanical strength. Moreover, in the presence of aluminum, the mechanical strength either increases or decreases according to the shape of the cermet support. On the other hand, open porosity and water permeability of the ceramic supports increase proportionally with the addition of aluminum ratio to kaolin matrix for ...

Lutetium(III) cyclo­tetra­phosphate

Single crystals of the title compound, tetralutetium(III) tris(cyclotetraphosphate), Lu4(P4O12)3, were obtained by solid-state reaction. The cubic structure is isotypic with its AlIII and ScIII analogues and is built up from four-membered (P4O12)4− phosphate ring anions ( symmetry), isolated from each other and further linked through isolated LuO6 octahedra (.3. symmetry) via corner sharing. Each LuO6 octahedron is linked to six (P4O12)4− rings, while each (P4O12)4− ring is linked to eight LuO6 octahedra.