A novel method was developed to reduce the pore size of microporous ceramic tubular membranes by coating their inner surfaces using cellulose acetate solution forming a thin coating of similar to 35 mu m. Three tubular membrane configurations viz., 1-channel, 7-channel and 19-channel, hollow tubular having an identical pore size of 1.2 mu m and apparent porosity of 35 vol.% were tested for pollutants collected from different industrial discharge sources in addition to simulated effluent mixtures under cross-flow filtration mode. Filtration experiments were performed by varying feed pressure, feed concentration and permeate flux. Rejection rates of different effluents collected from distillery wastes, paper and pulp wastes, and sugar industry were tested under variable transmembrane pressure (TMP). The composite membranes have shown greater potential in reducing the pollutant concentrations from the collected sources than the uncoated plain ceramic modules. Published by Elsevier B.V.