Optimasi Sintesis dan Aplikasi Adsorben dari Limbah Ekstraksi Biosilika Sekam Padi

Abstract

By-product of biosilica process has potential as one alternative of adsorbent in industry due to the large amount and easy to get. Almost 90% of this by-product contains Silicon Dioxide (SiO2). This research aimed to identify adsorbent characteristics produced from by-product of nanobiosilica process and its application in waste water purification. Calcination and impregnation were applied in this study. Variable for optimization process were temperature at 600°C; 700°C; 800°C and time; however the impregnation process was carried out by immersing the waste with catalysts ZnCl2, H3PO4, and KOH with ratio 1:1 and 1:2 (w/v). The best product that can be used as a purifier for contaminated surface water is produced by optimizing adsorbent synthesis from biosilica extraction waste. The results showed that using H3PO4 as the active agent, the adsorbent synthesis via impregnation produced the highest surface area and iodine absorption, namely 24.32 mg/g and 1281.65 m2/g, respectively. The SNI requirements for activated carbon were met by the adsorbent characteristics. The test results of the application of polluted surface water purification showed that the adsorbent in this study reduced the pH of polluted surface water to 7.62, which is equivalent to that of commercial adsorbents.