Modified mesoporous silica derived from bamboo leaf using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane as CO adsorbent in biogas purification.

The calorific value of post-fermentation biogas is a way down below standard and quite low due to the presence of high amount level of carbon dioxide (CO) biogas mixture. Therefore, it raises the need to process the biogas, separating it from CO in order to obtain high-purity biogas as well as to maximize its calorific value. One widely available material that can be used as a sustainable carbon capture adsorbent is silica extracted from bamboo leaves. However, so that silica can act as CO adsorber, it is necessary to modify the surface of silica with CTAB and APTES (3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane). In this study, 2-stage method was carried out, namely preparation of mesoporous silica and surface modification using APTES on the mesoporous silica. Experiments in synthesizing APTES-modified silica were obtained by varying its composition: CTAB (1.5-5%w), (HCl 1.5-5 N), and APTES (10-30%). A central composite design (CCD) was employed in exploring the interaction between all variables and also performed for the optimization. Through analysis of variance, it shows that optimum CO adsorption capacity reaches 47.02 mg g, by applying 4.98% of CTAB, 4.28 N of HCl and 10.08% of APTES. Pseudo-second-order kinetic and Redlich-Peterson isotherm models are more representative to show the adsorption behavior of CO into the modified silica. The results show that the modified silica with APTES shows a prospective application of silica for CO removal from biogas.