Morphology Characteristic Study of Adsorbent Prepared from Sidoarjo Hot Mud

Abstract

Sidoarjo hot mud has erupted for the past 16 years and has many effects on the environment. This mud contains several porous materials, such as silica and aluminum oxide, which can be used as adsorbents. This study aimed to characterize the morphology of the adsorbent and apply it to waste cooking oil purification. The composition of virgin hot mud was 46.5% SiO₂ and 13% Al₂O₃ with an amorphous crystalline structure. The hot mud was activated with H₂SO₄ under different drying process conditions where the drying temperature differed from 150^oC to 250^oC, while the drying period was set from 30 to 90 minutes. After the activation, the structure of the adsorbent became more crystalline. From XRD analysis, the lowest intensity resulted from adsorbent with 225^oC and 75 minutes of drying, with 191,038 m²/gr on pore surface area. This adsorbent had a greater pore surface area and gave the best adsorption process.