Production of MCM-41 and SBA-15 Hybrid Silicas from Industrial Waste

MCM-41 and SBA-15 have many applications in chemical processes. However, the high cost of producing these materials limits their applications to a large-scale. To reduce production costs and promote recycling of industrial waste, this study presents methodologies for the synthesis of MCM-41 and SBA-15 using glass powder, rice husk ash and sugarcane bagasse ash. The methodologies consist of dissolving the raw materials in a sodium hydroxide solution under mild reaction conditions and subsequently using it as reactive silica source, to synthesize the MCM-41 and SBA-15 hybrid silicas. The materials were synthesized in two steps. The first step of SBA-15 occurred at 35 degrees C for 24 h and the hydrothermal synthesis occurred at 100 degrees C for 48 h. For MCM-41, these steps occurred at 28 degrees C for 2 h and 150 degrees C for 96 h, respectively. The samples were characterized using X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Energy-dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The results showed that the basic treatment of the raw materials was effective in increasing the reactivity of the alternative silica sources and eliminating the negative effects of impurities. Moreover, the results showed that the syntheses produced highly-ordered materials, free of contaminants.

Automated summary

This study presents methodologies for the synthesis of MCM-41 and SBA-15 using glass powder, rice husk ash and sugarcane bagasse ash. The results showed that treating the raw materials effectively increased their reactivity and eliminated the negative effects of impurities. The synthesized materials exhibited high orderliness and were free of contaminants.