Abstract:
Abstract: Rice husk ash was a kind of resource, but it was often wasted. In order to better use rice husk ash, the process of poly-generation of sodium silicate and activated carbon from rice husk ash, and the further production of poly aluminum silicate sulfate (PASS)from sodium silicate were reported in this paper. In addition, the flocculation performance of PASS for the treatment of organic waste water was investigated, and the structure of PASS was also characterized with several different analysis methods. As is well known, the ash-alkali ratio has a significant influence on the modulus of sodium silicate and methylene blue adsorption value of activated carbon in the process of poly-generation of sodium silicate and activated carbon from rice husk. In this paper, the reaction of rice husk ash and sodium hydroxide was carried out in a kettle at a ratio of 10:1.5; after a certain amount of distilled water was added and the temperature heated up to 100℃, reaction continued for 2 h with constant stirring. When the schedule time was reached, the filtration of the reaction product was conducted, and the sodium silicate with high modulus, namely the filter liquor, was obtained through the filtration, and the residue was treated with alkali for three times with the ash-alkali ratio of 10:3, 10:6, and 10:10, respectively. Then the sodium silicate (the filter liquor) with different modulus (3.3, 2.3, and 1.1) was obtained, and the residue became the activated carbon with adsorption performance through further treatment. Besides, the influence of the concentration of silica, the mole ratio of aluminum to silicon, and pH value on the flocculation performance of PASS, which was prepared with the sodium silicate with the modulus of 3.3, was investigated. In this experiment, the activation of sodium silicate was conducted with the concentration of 3%~8% and pH value of 1.0~4.0 for a period of time, and the solution of aluminum sulfate was added to the sodium silicate at a certain molar ratio of aluminum to silicon. The results showed that the optimal process conditions for preparing PASS were as follows: silica concentration of 7%, aluminum silicon ratio of 1:2, and pH value of 2.0. The PASS was prepared at the optimal conditions mentioned above and used for the treatment of organic waste water. The rates of turbidity and color removal were 97.29 % and 94.26%, respectively, when the dosage of PASS was 60 mg/L (based on Al2O3). Moreover, the flocculation performance of PASS was better than that of PAC when the same amount of them were poured into the water. Finally, the structure and morphology of PASS was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) after drying at 50℃. The results of FTIR and XRD showed that the PASS was a complex compound of silicon and aluminum instead of a mixture, and the results of SEM showed that the flocculation performance of PASS was affected by the mole ratio of aluminum to silicon to some extent.