SILICON, cilt.15, sa.14, ss.6173-6184, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
This study aims to inspectthe effect of hydrothermal parameters on the zeolitization of coal fly ash and fumed silica using the L9 orthogonal Taguchi method. The Si/Al ratio, NaOH concentration, synthesis time, and hydrothermal temperature were considered as the operational parameters. The formed crystals were examined using XRD, FTIR, SEM-EDX, TG-DTA, BET, Raman microscopy, contact angle, and cation exchange capacity measurements. The effects of the different parameters were investigated by mean and variance analysis. The ideal levels of the zeolitization process were revealed to be high temperature (140 degrees C), medium concentration (1.5 M), lower Si/Al ratio (4), and long-time treatment (36 h). The zeolitization rate of started materials reached 84% and Na-P1 zeolite was the main neoformed phase with high crystallinity (104%). The obtained zeolite is found to be an effective and cheap adsorbent to deal with organic pollutants such as Methylene blue (33.74 mg/g) with a removal rate of 99.8%.