In this paper, the centrifugal casting of ceramic membrane tubes is presented using different powder particle sizes and powder mixtures. The inner surface of the tubes has a very regular pore structure and is also very smooth. The strength of the tubes increases with increasing sintering temperature and decreasing particle size up to stress values of 1500 MPa. For the strongest materials, the pores sizes and porosities are in the order of 50 mn and 30%, respectively. The water permeability varies between 5 and 50 1/m(2).h.bar, The inner surface of the tubes was coated with a highly porous chitosan biopolymer layer of 30-50 mum thickness, The chitosan layer is prepared by a phase-inversion method using water with low and high pH values as a solvent/non-solvent system. Silica, which dissolves at high pH values, is used as porogen and creates the pores. This biopolymer can adsorb heavy metals like copper. With this membrane system, Cu2+ (50 ppm. as CuSO4) can be removed almost completely with a membrane capacity of 0.1 g Cu2+/g chitosan.