Synthesis of Silica Aerogel from Bagasse Ash by Ambient Pressure Drying

Abstract

Silica aerogels having very high surface area and pore volume have been succesfully synthesized from bagasse ash by ambient pressure drying (APD) method. Silica in bagasse ash was extracted by alkali extraction to produce sodium silicate solution. This is done by boiling bagasse ash in 2 N NaOH solution under continuous stirring for 1 h. To avoid the collapse of gel structure during drying at ambient pressure condition, the silica surface was modified with alkyl functional groups by a single step sol‐gel process. Silicic acid produced by exchanging Na+ ions in dilute sodium silicate solution with H+ ions from cation resin was added with trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS) and let the reaction of TMCS with water pore proceeds for several minutes to produce hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) and HCl. Then, HMDS was added to allow the modification of silica surface in which the silanol groups were exchanged with alkyl groups originating from HMDS. The solution pH was then adjusted to 8–9 by adding NH4OH solution to induce gel formation. The hydrogel was aged at 40 °C for 18 h and at 60 °C for 1 h. Then, it was dried at 80 °C at ambient pressure condition. The silica aerogels obtained have specific surface, as measured by BET method, ranging from 450.2 to 1360.4 m2/g depending on the synthesis condition. The pore volume was ranging from 0.7 to 1.9 cm3/g. It seems that silica aerogels with very high surface area and pore volume can be obtained if the silanols group in the silica surface was exchanged succesfully with alkyl groups from HMDS.