UTILIZATION OF NATURAL-SOURCED NANOSILICA FROM RICE HUSK AND SUGARCANE BAGASSE AS FLUX PROMOTING AGENTS FOR ULTRAFILTRATION MEMBRANE
Sri Mulyati (a*), Syawaliah Muchtar (b), Mukramah Y. Wahab (b), Muhammad A. Armando (a), Habli Mawardi (a), and Nasrul Arahman (a)
(a) Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia
(b) Doctoral School of Engineering Science, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia
*sri.mulyati[at]unsyiah.ac.id
Abstract
This paper reports about the application of biosilica sourced from low-cost and natural biomasses such as rice husk and sugarcane bagasse as membrane modifying agents. The modification was conducted on poly(ether sulfone) membrane by blending technique. The modification was aimed to improve the performance of the PES membrane in terms of water permeability as well as separation performance. The effects of silica addition to the membrane system were evaluated through the analysis of change in chemical structure using attenuated total reflectance-fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, surface morphological change using the atomic force microscope, and surface hydrophilicity using water contact angle measurement. The results showed that addition of biosilica of both natural sources successfully enhanced the pore property and hydrophilicity (from 80 to 50 contact angle degree) of the membranes which subsequently improved the water permeability as well as filtration performance of the blended membranes.
Keywords: Biosilica; Ultrafiltration; Flux promoting agent; Rice husk; Sugarcane baggase
Topic: Chemical Engineering