Extraction of Silica from Sugarcane Bagasse via Acid Leaching Treatment

Abstract

Agriculture waste were produced for more than 1 million tons annually in our country. The disposal of the waste by open burning tend to bring environmental pollution such as air pollution. Thus it is essential to identify an alternative usage of the agriculture waste. Agricultural waste can be considered as good source of silica and have potential for the large scale production and acid leaching is one of the proper route to extract silica. In this project, sugarcane bagasse which is one of the agriculture waste is use to extract silica via acid leaching method. The purpose of this research is to study the effect of the leaching parameters such as leaching time and acid concentration on the extraction of the silica. Hydrochloric acid (HCL) with concentration of 1.0M and 2.0M were used as extraction solvent of silica from sugarcane bagasse. Leaching time was varied at 30 min, 60 min and 90 min. Various samples were prepared and characterized using Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersed x-ray (EDX) analysis. Based on the result of the analysis, it was proven that sugarcane bagasse can be considered as one of the alternative source in producing silica. The result indicates that the percentage of silica was increased from 57.10% to 99.0% when the leaching time increased from 30 to 90 min. Result of XRD analysis indicates that the extracted silica has an amorphous phase structure whilst the peak angle and intensity of the highest silica’s percentage were recorded at Bragg angle of 21.54° and intensity of 188.33 cps respectively.