Preparation of Environmentally Friendly Adsorbent Using Oil Palm Boiler Ash, Bentonite and Titanium Dioxide Nanocomposite Materials

Using the products derived from agricultural wastes as low-cost adsorbent materials to remove organic or inorganic contaminants would be ideal, as these materials are readily available in many countries. This study aimed to prepare environmentally friendly adsorbents made from nanocomposite OPBA / Bentonite / TiO2. The coprecipitation method was used in preparing OPBA, and CTAB surfactant was added in bentonite preparation. Meanwhile, the manufacture of TiO2 was carried out using the sol-gel method. Characterization was done by XRD, FTIR, SEM, and BET. The adsorbent spectra did not show a significant shift in absorption where the O-H bonds were becoming weaker due to the presence of TiO2 in the interlayer of bentonite. Another possibility is due to the influence of calcination and heating. The O-H groups of H2O are hydroxylated and dehydrated from within between layers. The formation of the composite OPBA/TiO2/Bentonite does not change the crystallinity of TiO2 significantly. This proves that there is no decrease in photocatalyst activity after the addition of OPBA and bentonite. The morphology of the whole sample has a flake-like structure that has pores. The addition of OPBA into Bentonite/TiO2 causes a decrease in the specific surface area of the sample.