Abstract: A type of novel iron oxide-based porous ceramsite (IPC) was prepared using goethite, sawdust and palygorskite as raw material. As-prepared IPC was proved to meet the national standard of water treatment. In various propriety tests for the ceramsite, the compressive strength was the principal factor to determine the most suitable product. An orthogonal experiment design in the optimization of mass ratio of raw materials and processing technology for IPC was introduced. XRD, SEM, polarizing microscope (PM) and specific surface area (BET-SSA) were used to characterize IPC. The results indicate that IPC has a porosity between 10-20 μm as well as 51-78 N of the compressive strength respectively. IPC owns large specific surface area (79 m²/g) and interconnects pores.The micro-organisms growth experimental results also show that in the same submerged culture conditions, the biological load in IPC is significantly higher than the commercially available ceramic and particle zeolite. The ceramisite is suitable to serve as the novel functional filler in biological aerated filter.