Customized copper/cobalt-rich ferrite spinel-based construction ceramic membrane incorporating gold tailings for enhanced treatment of industrial oily emulsion wastewater

New ceramic membranes (CM) using environment-oriented materials instead of rare materials are more attractive and easier to large-scale engineering and promotion. In this study, the feasibility of customizing low-cost and robust CM, is investigated by sintering typical available solid wastes (Fe-S-rich gold tailings and Si-rich marine shellfish powder) as the matrix with copper/cobalt-rich precursors. Analysis results indicate that the precursors (Cobaltate and Cuprate) with the proposed ratio (1:1 by mass, 1300 °C) can be chemically stable crystallized in the more durable structure of customized copper/cobalt-rich ferrite spinel-based construction CM (CM-(Cu-Co)Fe2O4). The composite membrane can operate stably and consumes no additional energy. After detailed characterization of the pore structure, the purification treatment of industrial oily wastewater (rejection rate > 99.9), emulsion oily wastewater (rejection rate > 97.9) and alizarin red wastewater (rejection rate > 99.3) was fully evaluated. Surprisingly, the waste-to-resource CM of CM-(Cu-Co)Fe2O4 exhibits significant heavy metal iron ion removal performance (>94%) due to electrostatic attraction and adsorption. The successful preparation and application of environment-oriented multifunctional CM from a typical solid waste matrix provide a promising strategy of resource recovery for beneficial utilization of ordinary solid wastes with stock as ceramic raw materials.