Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Materials Processing and Process Selection

ME5600 – Dr. Bridget M. Smyser
Summer I 2013

CERAMIC WATER FILTERS

Andrew C. Waite
June 20, 2013
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Abstract 3

2. List of Figures 3

3. List of Tables 3

4. Introduction 4
4.1. Ceramic Water Filter Concept 4
4.2. Applications of Ceramic Water Filters 4

5. Product of Interest 5

6. Current Manufacturing Process 6

6.1. Particle Preparation 6
6.2. Pressing 6
6.3. Drying 6
6.4. Firing 7
6.5. Silver Coating 7

7. Problems with Current Process and Product 8

7.1. Unaffordable to Target Market 8
7.2. Brittleness 8
7.3. Inconsistent Pore Properties 8
7.4. Filter Lifespan 8

8. Improvements 9
8.1. Highly Controlled Porosity Sol-gel Membrane 9
8.2. Polymer Coating Instead of Silver Nanoparticle Coating 10

9. References 11

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1. ABSTRACT

Ceramic water filters are used in third world countries as affordable products that
constitute an enormous improvement in health through transforming any water source into safe,
drinkable water. The current filters used in countries such as Haiti and Ghana are inexpensive,
simple designs that are made by self-sustainable factories in the developing nation. The ceramic
starts out as clay along with water as a binder. The mixture is pressed into a pot shape and left to
dry. A firing process completes solidification, and finally a Silver nanoparticle coating is painted
on the ceramic’s surfaces for virus removal from the water.

Two improvements were suggested to address previously identified problems with the
current process and product. First, a chemical solution-gel process, which allows for precise
control of pore size in a ceramic membrane, was added to the inner and outer surfaces of the
ceramic. The extremely small pore sizes in these membranes more reliably filter out all
contaminates, including viruses as small as 0.02 µm in diameter. Second, replace the silver
nanoparticle coating with a polymer based coating. This polymer based material is less
expensive and significantly more effective at removing viruses and bacteria from the
contaminated water.

2. LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Diagram of filtering process through porous ceramic material 4

Figure 2: Simple ceramic filter produced by self-sustaining factory in third world country 5
Figure 3: Hydraulic press for shaping clay into pot shape 6
Figure 4: Shaped pots drying on racks 6
Figure 5: Filters being placed in kiln to be fired for complete solidification 7
Figure 6: Painting of Silver nanoparticle solution onto surfaces of filter 7

3. LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Benefits of TPA sol-gel coating instead of Silver coating 10

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4. INTRODUCTION

4.1. Ceramic Water Filter Concept

Ceramic water filters (CWFs) use the porous nature

of ceramics as a physical straining mechanism to filter out a
variety of undesired contaminates from an unsafe water
supply. The concept of a ceramic water filter was first
applied in the early Nineteenth century and used exclusively
by wealthy families[1][2]. Figure 1 shows the basic concept of
a CWF. Unclean water containing turbidity and
microorganisms, among other contaminants, is introduced to
one side of the ceramic. Only water molecules and particles
small enough to fit through the pores pass through the filter
to the other side. Ideally, the result is drinking water, clean
of any contaminants.
Figure 1: Diagram of filtering process
through porous ceramic material  
4.2. Applications of Ceramic Water Filters

There are multiple applications for ceramic water filters due to the ceramic’s simple filter
mechanism, which does not require any energy input to function. One application is in
backpacking. An example of a product containing a CWF designed for backpacking is the
Katadyn Vario Multi Flow Water Microfilter. This product can be purchased off Amazon or in
an REI or EMS store for approximately $90.00[3]. Its design has a tube that is attached to one
end of the filter. This tube is placed in an unclean water supply such as a stream or lake. A
built-in hand pump is employed to suck the water through the tube into the filter. The pressure
from the pump also forces the water through the pores in the ceramic filter and into a clean water
receptacle[3]. The market for such a product is people who can afford recreational backpacking
trips.

Another application of a CWF product is a simple filter used in developing nations

around the globe where clean, safe drinking water is not readily available. In these countries,
illness caused by the consumption of contaminated water causes civilians to miss many days of
work or school and even pass away. The majority of the fatalities due to diseases contracted
from unclean drinking water are of children under the age of five. A few examples of illnesses
that can be contracted by consuming unclean water are: Giardiasis (protozoon), Cholera,
Escherichia Coli (bacteria), and Hepatitis A (virus)[4][5]. This third world application is the focus
of this project.

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5. PRODUCT OF INTEREST

Within the past two decades, there have been a few American-based Non-Government
Organizations (NGOs) working towards the long-term goal of making clean drinking water
available for every human in the world. Some of these NGOs are Engineers Without Boarders,
Resource Development International[6], Pure Home Water[7], and International Development
Enterprises[8]. These four specific organizations have made strides towards their long-term goal
by facilitating the construction of simple CWF manufacturing factories. These factories exist in
countries such as: Haiti, Cambodia, Ghana, and Ethiopia[6][7][8].

The main production materials and the labor force are both local, benefitting the factory
region’s economy. These self-sufficient factories produce an inexpensive CWF with only four
parts, depicted in Figure 2. The four parts are: a polymer lid, the pot-shaped ceramic water
filter, a polymer receptacle, and a faucet[7][8]. The manufacturing process and properties of the
pot-shaped ceramic are analyzed in the next section, and then possible improvements on the
process and product are suggested.

Figure  2:    Simple  ceramic  water  filter  produced  by  self-­‐

sustaining  factory  in  a  third  world  country  

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6. CURRENT MANUFACTURING PROCESS

The main design goals in the production of this simple ceramic filter are cost and porosity
control. The market for this product is low income, even impoverished families. An example of
a factory built by an organization called Pure Home Water started by a professor and a group of
graduate engineering students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will be
analyzed in depth. The main goals of this organization were to reach the people most in need of
safe drinking water and to become a financially and locally self-sustaining manufacturing plant.
The manufacturing plant was constructed in Tamale, Ghana to produce water filters that meet
these goals[6][7].

6.1. Particle Preparation

The ceramic manufacturing process begins with local

clay, high in Iron, crushed down into a powder. Water is added
as a binder for the clay particles. Rice husks are also added
uniformly throughout the thick mud-consistency slip. These rice
husks will burn up during the firing stage, leaving behind
significantly larger pores for the water molecules to travel
through, increasing the volumetric flow rate of the water through
the filter[6][7][9].

Figure 3: Hydraulic press for shaping 6.2. Pressing

clay into pot shape  

Next, the clay mixture is placed in a 10-ton hydraulic

press, shown in Figure 3, powered by electricity from a diesel
generator. Plastic bags are placed between the male and female
molds and the clay mixture to prevent sticking. The press
applies pressure to the mixture until excess clay seeps out of run-
off holes. Now the ceramic has its final pot shape[6][7][9].

6.3. Drying

The excess clay from the press is trimmed off and the pot
is placed on a rack to dry, shown in Figure 4. Depending on
weather conditions such as temperature and humidity, it may
take pots 4 – 14 days to dry[6][7][9].

Figure 4: Shaped pots drying on racks  

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6.4. Firing

Once almost all of the water has evaporated from the dried pot, it is placed in a kiln,
similar to one in Figure 5 and fired between 800 and 900°C for eight hours. The rice husks burn
out at this step. As previously mentioned, this leaves relatively large pores that allow for a
higher volumetric flow rate of water[6][7][9].

Figure 5: Filters being placed in kiln to be fired for complete solidification  

6.5. Silver Coating

Lastly, a silver nanoparticle coating is painted onto both the inner and outer surfaces of
the filter as seen in Figure 6. The silver attracts and bonds virus cells, not allowing them to flow
with the water through the ceramic[6][7][9].

Figure 6: Painting of Silver nanoparticle

solution onto surfaces of filter  

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7. PROBLEMS WITH CURRENT PROCESS AND PRODUCT

7.1. Unaffordable to Target Market

First, even with the low production costs and minimalist design, these filters are still
simply unaffordable to some families in highly impoverished nations. Reducing the cost more
would require greater reductions in manufacturing costs and/or material costs. However, the
process is already so inexpensive, and any further cost reduction would most likely compromise
the quality of the filter beyond the point of functionality. Possibly the only solution for this price
stalemate would be to have a local government or NGO subsidize or fully cover the cost of a
ceramic water filter kit for families of extreme need (having children under the age of five).
Also, one of the more expensive aspects of the product is the silver nanoparticle coating. Silver
ions used in this solution can be as expensive as $1024.00 per kilogram[6][10].

7.2. Brittleness

Next, the ceramic pots are very brittle. If accidentally dropped from even a small height,
the pots don’t yield at all before they crack or shatter. A crack in the pot could cause pathways
for larger particles and contaminates to escape through the filter and into what is supposed to be
the clean water. However, if the filters were ductile, a deformation would also increase size of
pathways for particles besides water molecules to pass through the filter.

7.3. Inconsistent Pore Properties

Due to the crude (or lack of) quality control measures taken during the manufacturing
process, pore size and distribution are not particularly uniform. As predictability and
consistency of the size of the pores decreases, the functionality of the ceramic as a filter also
decreases. Methods for controlling porosity properties in ceramics were researched to attempt to
address this problem.

7.4. Filter Lifespan

Another drawback to relying on a ceramic water filter is that every filter has a finite life
span. There is a point where all or almost all of the pores in the filter are filled up with
contaminates taken out of the water, cycle after cycle. This lifetime is reached approximately
two years after the initial use of the filter based on an average household volumetric flow rate of
two – three liters of water filtered per day[8].

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8. IMPROVEMENTS

Through extensive literature review on the subjects of the above problems, two
improvements to the current manufacturing process were suggested. First, implantation of a
chemical process called sol-gel to apply a membrane on the surfaces of the filter. Precise control
over pore size is achieved in these membranes. Second, replacing the silver nanoparticle coating
with a polymer based coating that is significantly cheaper and more effectively removes viruses.

8.1. Highly Controlled Porosity Sol-gel Membrane

The porous nature of ceramics has been used for many years, however only within the
past twenty-five years have particle material scientists been able to process ceramics with highly
controlled porous properties including percent porosity and average pore size. This relatively
new technology is being used in many applications including biomedical and food container
products[9][10[.

A study on the affect of packing particle density on the porosity of a ceramic membrane
was the main resource used in determining whether this improvement’s benefits would outweigh
its drawbacks. In this study by Q. Xu and M. Anderson, two gels (TiO2 and ZrO2) were created
using a sol-gel process. The concentration of these ceramic molecules in a water-based gel was
varied to yield the smallest average pore diameter in the final solidified product. The TiO2 was
able to obtain an average pore radius of approximately 0.7 nm[9][10].

The gel requires a long drying period and a firing process to achieve full solidification.
Therefore, this new step would be implemented into to current manufacturing process just after
the hydraulic press shapes the clay into a pot. The gel could be painted and rolled onto the
surfaces of the ceramic to ensure relative uniform thickness of the TiO2 membrane. The final
product would contain the ceramic with approximately 2 µm radii pores sandwiched between
two TiO2 membranes with approximately 0.7 nm (0.0007 µm) radii pores. The membranes
would then effectively filter out viruses (~.02 µm radii), which are not physically filtered by the
current clay pot product[10].

There are a few drawbacks to this proposed improvement. First, the chemical preparation
of the sol-gel to be applied to the pot is an entire extra step. This translates into longer
production time and increased costs due to labor and materials necessary for the sol-gel process.
Another drawback is that the smaller pore size of the membranes will reduce the water’s
volumetric flow rate significantly.

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8.2. Polymer Coating Instead of Silver Nanoparticle Coating

A study comparing the abilities of silver nanoparticles and polymer based

macromolecules to attract and bond viruses showed that the polymer had almost doubled the
bonding power as the silver. The polymer used was a quaternary amine functionalized
silsesquioxane, specifically Polytrihydroxysilyl propyldimethyloctadecyl ammonium chloride
(PTA). This molecule has a cage-like molecular structure that includes Silicon atoms, Oxygen
atoms, and an alkyl group[10].

The study shows that when painted onto a ceramic water filter similarly as the Silver
solution, the TPA is able to remove more than double the percentage of harmful contaminates
such as the Silver painted on coating. Also, as mentioned in the problems, Silver is expensive.
The PTA required to coat the filters would cost approximately $222.00 per kilogram, about only
20% of the cost of the silver nanoparticles. Table 1 shows a summary of the two main benefits
for using this polymer based coating in place of a Silver nanoparticles coating[10].

Coating Removal of E. coli Price ($/kg)

Ag+ Nanoparticles 41.48% 1024.00

TPA powder 99.99% 222.00

Table 1: Benefits of TPA sol-gel coating instead of Silver coating[10]

There were no significant drawbacks to this proposed improvement. Therefore, this

coating material change should absolutely be implemented into the manufacturing process along
with the TiO2 sol-gel formed membranes to address the majority of the problems previously
identified.

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9. REFERENCES

[1] A. R. Bielefeldt, K. Kowalski, et. al. “Removal of virus to protozoan sized particles in
point-of-use ceramic water filters.” Water Research, Volume 44, Issue 5, March 2010,
Pages 1482-1488. ISSN 0043-1354, 10.1016/j.watres.2009.10.043.
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0043135409007167>.

[2] “Ceramics, a natural water filter.” DoultanUSA, Eco Systems International, LLC. 2013.
<http://doultonusa.com/HTML%20pages/technology.htm>.

[3] “Katadyn Vario Multi Flow Water Microfilter”. Katadyn Products Inc. 2013.
<http://www.katadyn.com/>.

[4] “Water-related diseases.” World Health Organization. 2013.

<http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases/en/>.

[5] “Water Health.” APEC Water Systems. 2013. <http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/>.

[6] J. M. Hagan, N. Harley, D. Pointing, M. Sampson, K. Smith, and V. Soam. Resource

Development International - Cambodia Ceramic Water Filter Handbook, Version 1.1.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Resource Development International - Cambodia, Engineers
Without Borders Australia. 2009.

[7] J. Cummings, J. Hester, et. al. “Pure Home Water Project; Ghana 2011; Group Report.”
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department, Masters of Engineering Thesis. 2011.

[8] International Development Enterprises (iDE). 2013. <http://www.ideorg.org/#>.

[9] D. S. Lantagne. Investigation of the Potters for Peace Colloidal Silver Impregnated
Ceramic Filter - Report 2: Field Investigations. Submitted to Jubilee House Community.
2001. <http://web.mit.edu/watsan/Docs/Other%20Documents/ceramicpot/PFP-Report1-
Daniele%20Lantagne,%2012-01.pdf>.

[10] H. Zhang, V. Oyanedel-Craver. “Comparison of the bacterial removal performance of

silver nanoparticles and a polymer based quaternary amine functionalized silsesquioxane
coated point-of-use ceramic water filters.” Journal of Hazardous Materials. 20 May 2013.
ISSN 0304-3894, 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2013.05.025.
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389413003415>.

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