Preparation and characterization of tubular ceramic support for use in transesterification process

A tubular ceramic support intended for use in transesterification process was prepared using the polymeric foam replication method. Pieces of foam with pores 120 ppi in size were completely immersed in a 25wt% solid-loading of porcelain slurry. The dried samples were sintered for 2 hours to temperatures ranging from 1200°C to 1265°C, respectively. It was found that the optimum sintering temperature was 1250°C as the following values were obtained for each characteristic: 1.98 MPa compressive strength, 47.3% porosity, 2.773gcm3 density and 0.45mm pore size. XRD results show that the sintered ceramic consists of mullite and quartz.