Preparation of Silica from Cassava Periderm
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Date
2016-08
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Widner University, USA
Abstract
Cassava peel is a substantial by-product of cassava processing and it constitutes about 13% of
the crop. Cassava peel is still currently considered a waste often discarded into the environment indiscriminately, and therefore economically underutilized. In the present work, silica was
synthesized from cassava periderm via sol gel route. Cassava periderm was burnt at 600 oC to
obtain Cassava Periderm Ash (CPA) prior to alkaline leaching of the silica content which was
thereafter precipitated with acid. The silica aquagel was then prepared by pH controlled titration
and aging, and followed by drying to form silica. Quantitative analysis showed that silica yield
from CPA was 61.53%. The morphology, elemental composition and phases of the silica were
investigated with SEM, EDX and XRD respectively. SEM revealed that silica particles are small
but not uniform. The EDX compositional analysis confirmed the presence of Si silicon among
others present. The Sherrer’s equation used to evaluate the particle size showed that the aver-
age particle size of the silica was 62.69 nm. The silica obtained could be used as desiccant in
the laboratory, and industrially, as filler for polymer composites and feedstock for production of
silicon used in the manufacture of solar panel.
Description
Keywords
Agricultural wastes, Cassava peel, Cassava periderm ash, Sol-Gel, Silica
Citation
Adepoju, A. D., Adebisi, J. A., Odusote, J. K., Ahmed, I. I., & Hassan, S. B. (2016). Preparation of Silica from Cassava Periderm. The Journal of Solid Waste Technology and Management, 42 (3), 216-221. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5276/JSWTM.2016.216