Synthesis and Characterization of Silica Gel Produced from Rice Husks

Abstract

In this work, sol-gel method was used to synthesize silica gel from rice husks and was characterized. The rice husks were leached with HCl and calcined to produce rice husk ash (RHA). The RHA was treated in NaOH followed by neutralization with HCl to obtain silica gel. Structural and compositional analysis were carried out using X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF), Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-Ray Diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) and Nitrogen sorption analysis. 74.54% amorphous silica with surface area of 283 m3/g, 0.16 cm3/g and 2.12 nm of pore volume and pore diameter respectively was recovered from RHA. The purity of the silica obtained showed the importance of aging after neutralization to completely eliminate attached product of neutralization to the silica gel.