An Improved Method for Production of Silica (SiO2) from Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA) using Acidic Wash Treatment (HCl)

Abstract

Palm oil is derived from tropical palm tree that is easily cultivated in tropical countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Brazil. Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) is a by-product from palm oil industry that is produced in large quantity (approximately 4 million tons annually in Malaysia). This paper presents an improved method for production of silica from POFA. Untreated POFA was dried in an oven at 110 ºC for 24hours, it was then grinded in a ball mill for 12 hours at 250 rev/min to reduce the particle size, the powder is dispersed in 1 molar of HCl acid and stirred constantly for 30 min using electric shaker. X-ray fluorescence analysis shows that, POFA treated with acid shows the existence of thirteen chemical elements and the chemical composition of SiO₂ increases after the acidic wash from 15.90 wt% to 43.70 wt%. The percentage difference for SiO₂ is shown to be 175%. Based on the result of this study, it can be concluded that acid wash treatment is suitable for production of silica from POFA.