Removal of Methylene Blue from Aqueous Solution with Silica Gel Extracted from Coal Fly Ash

Melvi Muharmi, Teguh Setyawan, Muh Rizal B, Nur Jaya, Revi Maylina Tanjung, Defia Indah Permatasari, Rani Khoiriyah, Ramaiyulis Ramaiyulis, Ilmiyati Refi Fadlia

Abstract


The textile industry has the potential to cause water pollution due to dye
waste such as methylene blue (MB). Many methods have been
developed to overcome the challenges of dye removal, one of which is
the adsorption method. This study introduces silica gel (SiG) as an
effective material for MB dye wastewater treatment. The silica source was
extrated from coal fly ash (FAC) which has a relatively high silica content,
making it a potential silika source for silica gel synthesis. The silica gel
formed was characterized using FTIR and SEM. The FTIR
characterization results showed that the synthesized SIG had adsorption
in the wavelength range of 3500-3400 cm-1 and 1700-1600 cm-1,
indicating the presence of silanol and siloxane groups. The SEM results
showed that the SiG morphology was spherical, non-agglomerated and
had a fairly uniform particle size. This study also investigated the effect of
pH, contact time, and adsorbent dosage on the MB dye adsorption
process. The optimum conditions were obtained at pH 11, contact time 75
minutes and adsorbant dosage 0,1 gram with an adsorption efficiency of
89,49%. Therefore, this synthesized silica is promising for the efficient
removal of MB dye from aqueous solutions and offers practical
applications in wastewater treatment.

Keywords


adsorption; coal fly ash; silica gel; methylene blue

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.18860/al.v14i1.37926

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