CHARACTERIZATION ON SILICA FROM WASTE SUGARCANE BAGASSE FOR MEMBRANE FABRICATION

Abstract

The used of additive enhance the surface of the membrane layer and can be choose from various material. Examples of commonly used additive in membrane are Polyethylene glycol, silica oxide, cellulose acetate and Polyvinylpyrrolidone. Silica oxide was proven have ability to minimize the fouling problem hence increase hydrophobic properties of membrane. Silica also can be extracted from rice husk ash, sugarcane bagasse, sorghum vularae seed and kenaf by precipitation method, biodigestion and sol-gel process. Silica extraction from sugarcane bagasse was chosen as the organic additive for membrane formation. In order to investigate the suitability of the material, several characterization test have been conducted. There are thermal, microscopic and spectroscopic analyses. Thermal gravimetric analysis was performed on sugarcane bagasse to determine the amount of silica that can be extracted from it. Results of TGA on sugarcane bagasse show that the peak temperature at 315.70 °C are defined as crystalline melt. After the melt transition, the baseline takings to a slightly lower position than the pre-melt baseline. The post-melt baseline changes slope as the sample begins decomposition while TGA extrapolated onset temperature of 241.56 °C as this sample decomposes. The analysis of microscopic shows that the addition of silica from sugarcane bagasse changed the surface structure of the membrane especially at top layer and sub layer. Sugarcane bagasse show bands for carboxylate (COO-) and hydroxyl (OH-) groups. The availability of negatively charged groups at the surface of sugarcane bagasse shows potential to be used as additive in membrane fabrication.