Synthesis and characterization of geopolymer from bottom ash and rice husk ash

All Geopolymer (GP) has been synthesized from bottom ash and rice husk ash. This research aims to determine the effect of Si/Al ratio on geopolymer synthesis. Geopolymer was synthesized with various Si/Al ratio of 2, 3 and 4. The characterization result using XRD and SEM indicated that by using a different ratio of Si/A, it will produce geopolymer with varied structure and morphology. Diffractogram result shows that polymerization has been done for all samples (GP2, GP3, GP4) with the presence of hump peak at 2 theta = 27-35 degrees. In GP4, no peak at 2 theta = 18 degrees indicating sodalite phase forming. Besides that, the morphology of geopolymer with a varied ratio of Si/Al shows that higher ratio will produce geopolymer with higher particle size. The highest compressive strength of geopolymer was obtained at a ratio of Si/Al = 4, with a maximum load of 12866 kgf.