Sorption Efficiency in Dye Removal and Thermal Stability of Sorghum Stem Aerogel

Abstract

Agroindustry waste containing cellulose compound, Sorghum stem, was utilized to become cellulose aerogel which was then used as dye absorbent in textile dye wastewater. Cellulose was prepared by sorghum stem powder delignification using 6%w of NaOH solution. The ratio of powder and NaOH was varied in 1:12, 1:15, and 1:20. After this process, the powder was synthesized with NaOH/Urea to produce an aerogel by the freeze-drying method. The result shows that a higher amount of NaOH in the delignification process could increase aerogel density and decrease the porosity. Thermal stability and sorption efficiency of the aerogel was analyzed in this study. Higher porosity of aerogel tends to raise % removal in methylene blue absorption. This study reveals that aerogel three times more effective than activated carbon in dye removal.