Today (5/2/2015), Nazriati presented openly her doctoral dissertation entitled: Synthesis of silica aerogel from bagasse ash by ambient pressure drying. The presentation was chaired by Prof. Gede Wibawa of the Department of Chemical Engineering ITS. The examiners were Prof. Ali Altway and Dr. Sumarno from ITS and Dr. I Gede Arsa Putrawan from ITB. Her supervisors were Prof. Sugeng Winardi and Prof. Heru Setyawan. The presentation was attended by lecturers (from ITS and others), students and others. The President of Malang State University also attended the presentation.
Her work concerned with the use of bagasse ash, a solid waste remaining after burning bagasse to generate energy to operate sugar mill, to produce an economically added value material.This may also be used to solve disposal problems of the waste. Silica aerogels are unique porous materials consisting of three-dimensional mesoporous network of silica nanoparticles. They exhibit unique properties, such as a large surface area, a large pore volume, a low bulk density and a low thermal conductivity. Therefore, silica aerogels have many applications, including catalysis, adsorption, thermal insulation and drug delivery system. In her work, Nazriati has successfully produced silica aerogel with very high surface that can reach > 1000 m2/g. She also applied the material for hydrogen storage by doping it with Ni. The Ni-doped silica aerogels can adsorbed larger hydrogen than the undoped one although the surface area of the doped one is slightly smaller.
Her work has been published in the Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, an international reputable journal published by Elsevier (here). After obtaining her doctoral degree, Nazriati will return back to Malang State University as a lecturer.
Elkimkor 