Extraction of silica from EFB Fly Ash for SBA-15 production

Palm Oil Empty Fruits Bunch Fibre is the waste generate during the extraction of oil from its fruits. EFB rich in silicate component that made it suitable for natural sillica production. EFB itself is ease to handle, easy to obtain and its cheap materials. In this study, Santa Barbara Amorphous-15 (SBA-15) was produce by using sodium silicate which derived from the EFB Fly Ash via chemical treatment. Before the chemical treatment a purification process is done by using 1M HCl for one hour. The purification of raw materials is needed to remove all the impurities from the sample prepared. This purification process was proving by the XRF analysis. The Sba-15 was analyzed by using FTIR to determine the functional group of the compound and Particle Analyzer to determine the porosity of the and the size of the SBA-15.