Synthesis and Characterization of Zeolite Lynde Type A (LTA): Effect of Aging Time

Abstract

Zeolite Lynde Type A (LTA) has been widely applied, such as adsorbent, catalyst, membrane, ion exchanger, and even molecular sieve. As molecular sieve, the zeolite LTA has high dehydration ability and has a prospect as separation agent such as water removal from the ethanol-water mixture to obtain high purity bioethanol. Furthermore, it can repeatedly be used, lower energy usage, and environmentally friendly. Due to the number of advantages possessed, this research conducted to synthesize the zeolite LTA. The sources of silica and alumina used are from Coal Bottom Ash (CBA), PLTU Tarahan, Indonesia. CBA is a waste of coal burning that has not fully utilized. This effect of aging time was examined to obtain the highest percentage of its crystallinity. The results showed that 36 hours aging gave a product of zeolite with the best characteristics. The XRD analysis reported that this zeolite had 89.43% of crystallinity. The FTIR identification showed the presence of double rings structure which is characteristic of zeolite LTA. Finally, the result of SEM expressed the morphology of zeolite A on 3.163 μm of crystal size.