The Comparative Study of Pure Mesoporous Silica from Corn Cobs Waste and CPTMS-Mesoporous Silica Adsorption of Zn Heavy Metal.

Adsorption of zink in wastewater onto mesoporous silica materials functionalized with 3-chloropropyl (trimethoxy)silane (CPTMS) was observed. Mesoporous silica has been synthesized using alkaline methods from corn cobs waste.Herein, the mesoporous silica was used as an adsorbent to remove the heavy metal from industrial wastewater. Forcomparison the silica has been activated using 3-chloropropyl (trimethoxy) silane (CPTMS) as a functionalization agent.The composition and morphology of silica have been characterized by means of elemental analysis, BET, scanningelectron microscopy, FTIR and AAS. Surface area of the mesoporous silica were characterized using BET specific surfacearea, FTIR was used to indicate the organic group of both mesoporous silica. The adsorption capability of silica hasdetermined by AAS. The surface area of activated silica (CCA/SiO2 + CPTMS) was found to be lower than CCA/SiO2,360.5m2/g in comparison to 301.8m2/g. However, the results indicated that initial adsorption rate onto activated silicawas rapid and faster than mesoporous silica due to the modification of silica generates O-Si-Cl bridge which makesbetter adsorption than virgin mesoporous silica with only Si-O bond.