The reaction sintering of porous alumina ceramic membrane support was realized at 1300 degrees C using commercial titanium white powder (rutile) as sintering aids. The microstructures of sintered body were significantly affected by the amount of rutile, organic pore-forming agents and sintering techniques. The results indicated that the porosity dramatically decreased and the pore radius decreased from 1.6 mu m to 0.8 mu m with less than 10.0 wt.% rutile addition. Correspondingly, their permeations to nitrogen depending on the pore structure parameters of the support were in the range of 11.8-26.1 km(1) m(-2) h(-1) bar(-1) at 1400 degrees C. Organic additives up to 25.0 wt.% is appropriate, otherwise the excessive organic additives would lead to poor sintering of green support. Sintering experiments showed that the microcracks formed once the sintering temperature was over 1600 degrees C. To prepare porous alumina support with > 40% open porosity and 50 MPa mechanical strength along with better resistance to alkaline corrosion, the optimum sintering conditions are the sintering temperature of 1400 degrees C and 2-4 h holding time at this temperature. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.