Preparation of silica aerogel from oil shale ash by fluidized bed drying

The silica aerogel with high specific surface area and large pore volume was successfully synthesized using oil shale ash (OSA) via ambient pressure drying. The oil shale ash was burned and leached by sulfuric acid solution, and then was extracted using sodium hydroxide solution to produce a sodium silicate solution. The solution was neutralized with sulfuric acid solution to form a silica gel. After washing with water, the solvent exchange with n-hexane, and the surface modification with hexamethyldisilazane (HMDZ), the aged gel was dried by fluidization technique and also using a furnace to yield silica aerogels. The physical and textural properties of the resultant silica aerogels were investigated and discussed. The results have been compared with silica aerogel powders dried in a furnace. From the results, it is clear that the properties of silica powders obtained in fluidized bed are superior to that of powders dried in the furnace. Using fluidization technique, it could produce silica aerogel powders with low tapping density of 0.0775 g/cm(3), high specific surface area (789 m(2)/g) and cumulative pore volume of 2.77 cm(3)/g. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.