The Adsorption of Copper by SBA-15-CPTMS Mesoporous for Water Remediation

Abstract

The high development of science and technology affects the economic growth and industrialization process. The industrialization process produces industrial waste which contain heavy metal such as copper (Cu). This industrial waste can harm the environment surronding industrial areas where 15 million or 6% of the Indonesian population live. In order to overcome this problem, mesoporous silica material Santa Barbara Amorphous-15 (SBA-15) is used as an adsorbent. SBA-15 was synthesized through sol gel process using tetraorthosilicate as precursor, Pluronic 123 triblock copolymer as template, and (3-chloropropyl)trimethoxysilane (CPTMS) as functionalized agent. CPTMS was used to modify the SBA-15 surface in order to improve the materials as adsorbent. The materials were characterized using SAXRD and TEM to study material’s cristallinity and pore structure, the presence of organic group was examined using FTIR, the surface area of SBA-15 and SBA-15 CPTMS were characterized using Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) N2 adsorption isotherm test at 77 K, and the ions concentration in solution after adsorption process was determined using AAS. The crystal structure of SBA-15 and SBA-15 CPTMS was found 2D heksagonal with a more regular SBA-15 pore structure than SBA-15 CPTMS. The surface area of SBA-15-CPTMS was found to be lower than SBA-15, 711.061 m2/g in comparison to 831.996 m2/g. However, in copper adsorption test, it was found that SBA-15-CPTMS has higher adsorption ability.