Synthesis of zeolite L using rice husk ash silica for adsorption of methylene blue: kinetic and adsorption isotherm

Rice husk has a high silica content, so it can be utilized as silica source for zeolite synthesis. In this research, synthesis of zeolite L has been done using silica from rice husk ash without organic template. The synthesized zeolite L is then used as an adsorbent to adsorb methylene blue dye. The steps of zeolite L synthesis include: silica extraction from rice husk ash using NaOH and zeolite L synthesis using hydrothermal method with molar ratio 10 SiO2: Al2O3: 4 K2O: 100 H2O at 170 degrees C for 24 hours. The resulting Zeolite L was then characterized by XRD and SEM. The absorption capacity of methylene blue solution by zeolite L was observed experimentally through the effect of pH of the solution, contact time, and initial concentration of the solution, then determining the isotherm and its absorption kinetics. From XRD and SEM results of zeolite L sample, it is shown that zeolite L has been formed and its particle morphology is a hollow cylinder with cylinder diameter of 0.049 - 0.123 mu m. The adsorption process refers to the Freundlich isotherm model which provides the highest correlation coefficient. The methylene blue adsorption process by zeolite L follows pseudo second-order kinetics.