Description: Rice husk is an agricultural residue abundantly available in rice producing countries. Silica is the major constituent of rice husk ash varying from 85-95%. With such a large ash content silica content in the rice husk it becomes economical to extract silica from the ash, which has wide market also addressing the rice husk and its ash disposal. Silica (SiO2) is one of the valuable inorganic multipurpose chemical compound. Manufacture of pure silica is energy intensive. In this project, a simple chemical process is described which uses a non-conventional raw material rice husk ash for extraction of silica, one of the valuable inorganic multipurpose chemical compounds.
Socio-Economic Benefits: Current environmental and economic conditions encourage us to develop and improve technology to reduce or utilize the agricultural waste in the best possible way. Asia is the biggest zone for rice production (around 90%) in the world. Rice mills produce bulk amount of rice husk as a by-product which is used as a fuel by the industries to generate energy. Other than its fuel importance, researcher says that rice husk contains high amount of silica in the form of rice husk ash
Category: Waste management – Solid Waste management, environmental waste management, Biodegradation, fishery waste management, Marine waste management
Department: Chemistry