Preparation of Silica from Agricultural Leaves waste by Organic Acid Leaching Treatment

Abstract

In this paper, two types of raw material, Toddy leaves and sugarcane leaves were used. Leaves are an inexpensive raw material that can be used to extract silica from agricultural wastes, due to silica as a useful raw material for industrial application. In this study, the environmentally benign and economically effective process to produce SiO2 materials from toddy leaves and sugarcane leaves have been established by using citric acid leaching, not the conventional strong acids. The silica content of the product samples was characterized using X-Ray fluorescence (EDXRF), X-Ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis. The highest silica content (83.9%) was produced by Toddy leaves.