Today, started from 1.00 p.m., two doctoral students presented the progress of their research work relating with their dissertation. The seminar is held periodically by the department to monitor the prpogress of work carried by doctoral students. Srie Muljani presented her research on the preparation of silica-based materials from geothermal sludge. Geothermal sludge is solid waste of geothermal power plant. The solid waste was taken from the geothermal power plant located in Dieng plateau, Central Java. The silica content in geothermal sludge is approximately 85% that make it a viable raw material for advanced silica-based materials.
Nanik Astuti Rahman presented her work on preparation of amine-grafted silica gel from bagasse ash for CO2 removal. Bagasse ash is solid waste of sugar cane mills. There are many sugar cane mills in East Java, Indonesia. Most of the sugar cane mills use bagasse, a cellulose fiber remaining after extracting the cane juice, as fuel for boilers to generate steam during sugar processing. Bagasse ash is rich in silica (>51%) and can be a viable raw material for advanced silica-based materials. In addition, silica surface is rich in silanol group that make it possible to graft other functional group for specific purpose such as CO2 removal.
Elkimkor 