1. INTRODUCTION
Biomass generated from relevant agricultural crops, including coffee, bananas, sugar cane, and pineapple, is typically thrown as trash, burnt, or collected in neighbouring woods in many situations1. Several studies have focused on the recycling of agricultural wastes for the extraction of valuable materials like cellulose2, lignin3,4, carbon5, inhibitors6,7, adsorbents8, biofuels9, silicon10 and silica11.
Silicon dioxide (SiO2), often known as silica, is an example of a mineral that can be utilized as a natural resource12. Silica is the most prevalent component in the earth's crust and is synthesized for use in technological applications13,14. Biomasses, particularly agricultural wastes, appear to be a viable and long-term supply of silica and are now receiving much attention15.
Rice husk and wheat straw are two agricultural by-products and trash high in silica. The extraction of silica nanoparticles from agricultural waste and products is currently generating interest16. Several research works have studied the production of silica nanoparticles from rice husks and other agricultural by-products and wastes13, 17, 18. Example, have that nano-structured silica can be extracted from rice husks, coconut shells, and wheat straw19-21. Pharmaceuticals, archaeology, biotech, electronics, and silicon feedstock use silica. It has been used as a hard abrasive in toothpaste, desiccant, capacitors, and silicon production, as well as a food fining agent, medicinal powder flow agent, extra-terrestrial particles collector, and DNA and RNA extractor22-27.
Silica is used to make glass28, in biomedicine29-31, bio-cement31, and as an adsorbent32. It has been utilized in composites, electrical components, catalysts, drug delivery devices, thermal insulators, rubber, chromatography, and ceramics for a long time33.
Some of the techniques utilized in the literature to synthesize nanomaterials include pyrolysis, vapor-phase reaction, vacuum arc discharge, chemical vapor deposition and laser evaporation, sol-gel, and solution precipitation17,34,35 Acid leaching was used to remove soluble components pollutants from agricultural waste ash, resulting in a higher silica purity16, 36-38. Agricultural waste and other waste materials' organic compounds can decompose under sintering conditions, Sintering is typically performed at temperatures between 1000 and 1500°C to ensure melting of the matrix-forming binding elements18.
The research aims to evaluate the waste of natural products to prepare silica powder from (groundnut shell, walnut shell, and wood Carpentry Waste). X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDX) was used to analyze the prepared silica.
2. EXPERIMENTAL:
2.1. Materials:
Groundnut, walnut, and wood carpentry were obtained from the local market of El-Oued, Algeria. All chemicals were purchased from BIOCHEM Chemopharm.
2.2. Silica nanoparticles extraction:
The samples were heated to 600-700°C in an
electric arc furnace for 2 hours at a continuous heating rate of 10°C/min to
produce ash. The process continued with chemical treatment, as shown in
Figure 1.
In a beaker, 10 g of ash from several samples was mixed with 100 mL of HCl solution (10% v/v). A hotplate magnetic stirrer was used to heat the solution to 70°C and stir it continuously for 1 hour. The solution was filtered after the leaching process to eliminate any excess acid in the ash, and the residue was washed multiple times with distilled water. The ash residue was dried at 70°C in a oven for 2 hours to get white powdered silica.
The ash (1 g) from the samples was placed in 10 mL of 2.5 N NaOH, which was then heated at 70-80°C for 1 hour with continual stirring to dissolve the silica and form sodium silicate (Reaction 1). The solution was filtered using Whatman No. 41 ashless filter paper. After allowing the filtrate to cool, it was carefully titrated with 5 N of H2SO4 while constantly stirring.
Figure 1. The schematic figure of the different steps of extraction of Nano-silica from agricultural waste.
When the pH dropped below 7, silica l began to precipitate (Reaction 2). The resulting wet white precipitate was rinsed several times with deionized water before being filtered to remove any remaining sulfate contaminants. Amorphous silica was obtained by drying the white residue in an electrical oven.
SiO2(ash) + 2NaOH → Na2SiO3 + H2O (1)
Na2SiO3 + H2SO4 → SiO2 + Na2SO4+H2O (2)
2.3. Characterization of silica:
The samples of extracted silica were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR ThemoFisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) in a typical range of 4000 to 500 cm−1. XRD (Malvern Pananalytical was done using an angle from 20° to 80°. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope Model Nova NanoSEM 30 (FEI, Hillsboro, OR, USA) was used in the analysis the morphological structure of the samples 10 000× magnification. Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis is used to confirm that the product was in the amorphous form.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
3.1. Synthesis:
Four steps were developed to extract silica from agricultural waste, as illustrated in Figure 1. All extraction processes involved the HCl treatment, calcination at a temperature around 600-700°C, NaOH treatment, and H2SO4 treatment. We observed a change in the color of the various agricultural waste from light brown to white, with the final result being a biosilica. The biosilica yield extracted was calculated, and the results are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. The yield of silica production for different samples.
|
Samples |
Weight of sample ash (g) |
Yield (%) |
|
Groundnut shell (K) |
10 |
85 |
|
Walnut shell (G) |
10 |
71 |
|
Wood carpentry waste (N) |
10 |
70 |
Based on the results of Table 1, the amount of bio-silica extracted from groundnut shells and walnut shells, the yield was good, as we obtained the yield of groundnut shells with an estimated rate of 80% and 71% for nuts. Therefore, it can be said that peanut shells and walnut shells are a good source of silica.
3.2. Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR):
FTIR analysis of extracted bio-silica was carried out to investigate further the purity and type of functional groups present on the surface of the samples (N, G, K). The findings are presented in Figure 2. The absence of strong peaks in the 1850–3100 cm-1 area, except minor peaks at 2150 cm-1, indicates the absence of Si-C stretching, confirming the absence of substantial organic molecules in the bio-silica after burning the crusts39.
Based on the spectral analysis, a broad absorbance peak was detected at A strong absorbance peak at 1080 cm-1 indicated the presence of Si-O-Si group40, 41. Finally, the SiO bonds stretching vibrations are responsible for the bands at 600 cm-141, 42.
Figure 2. FTIR spectra of bio-silica samples (K, G, and N).
3.3. X-ray diffractometry
Figure. 3 shows the XRD patterns of biogenic Biosilica. The biogenic nano-silica samples showed a very weak peak, approximately 23°17.
Figure 3. The XRD patterns of nano silica extracted from the different samples (K, G, and N).
The existing quartz is seen in the XRD pattern for the ash at 2θ = 20°, 26°, 40°, 47°, and 55°. 2θ = 23° XRD array of isolated silica nanoparticles, which is characteristic of amorphous solid43, confirms amorphous silica formation; other researchers obtained similar results44. Based on the XRD analysis, it was revealed that the silica products had two different patterns or diffraction peaks i.e. broad and sharp peaks. This may be the attributes from the amorphous and crystal-form of silica products obtained from the extraction phases. The SiO2 structure of the amorphous silica present in a gentle slope the 2θ angle, 19.32° and 19.58° were recorded, in addition to 28.115° and 28.56°, indicating that the amorphous SiO2 is generally amorphous and crystallized at 23.54°. The prominent diffraction peaks are located side by side at 29.35° and 32.51°, as well. 38. 85°and 34.10°for silica from G; and from in Figure 3 (N, K) at 32.51°and 34.36°, which can be attributed to SiC diffraction; With a weak carbon peak at 2θ ≈ 49° for both samples, which may be the cause of the albedo; In addition, some small peaks appeared indicating the presence of weak traces of sodium (Na)45.
From the previous results and using the Bragg equation (Eq. 1)45, we obtained silica with an average diameter of 28.48 nm, 9.44 nm, and 25.50 nm for peanut shells, walnut shells, and wood shavings residues.
(Eq.1)
D: Crystallites size (nm);
K: 0.9 (Scherrer constant);
λ: 0.15406 nm (wavelength of the X-ray sources);
β: FWHM (radians);
θ: Peak position (radians).
3.4. SEM micrograph:
Figure 4 (a, b, c) shows the SEM micrograph of silica produced from the ash of K, G, and N samples at ×200,000 magnification respectively. The particles were found to be spherical, and aggregation of silica-silica was low.
Figure 4. SEM micrographs of the as- extracted silica from the different samples (a): K, (b): G, and (c): N.
3.5. EDX spectra:
Energy dispersive spectroscopy or EDX analysis of silica prepared is demonstrated in Figure 5 (a, b, c) indicates silica (SiO2) as the major compound in the samples (K, G, N). In addition, the impurities of the precipitated silica obtained. There are four elements of impurities found in the precipitated silica: C, S and Na. The theoretical Si and O in EDX spectrum presented in Figure 5.
Figure 5. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis spectrum of silica samples: (a) K, (b) G, and (c) N.
4. CONCLUSIONS:
This study confirmed that we successfully extracted agricultural waste in various biogenic wastes (groundnut shell, walnut shell, and wood carpentry waste).
Groundnut shell-derived Nano-silica was produced in high Yield at 85% compared to other agro-waste products, walnut shell (71%), and wood carpentry waste (70%). Biogenic Nano-silica has much potential as a stored grain protectant with the right precautions. This research might serve as an example of using green nanomaterial-based technologies in integrated pest management today.
5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
We would like to thank all members of Process Engineering and Petrochemical department, University of El Oued for their help and facilities.
6. THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST:
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
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Received on 26.10.2022 Modified on 12.11.2022
Accepted on 27.11.2022 ©AJRC All right reserved
Asian J. Research Chem. 2023; 16(1):97-101.
DOI: 10.52711/0974-4150.2023.00016