Synthesis of colloidal nanosilica from waste glass powder as a low cost precursor

Abstract Waste glass powder was used as a low cost precursor for production of colloidal nanosilica for the first time. The process includes production of wet silica gel and thermal peptization of the wet gel. Purification of the glass powder and wet gel production were initiated by acid washing. The obtained powder was reacted with sodium hydroxide to produce wet silica gel. Type of the applied acid was examined in one factor at a time route. Temperature of the alkaline step and concentrations of the applied acid and base were investigated using Taguchi design of experiments. After finding the best combination of the investigated factor levels in production of the wet gel, time of the stabilization in thermal peptization was studied. Characterizations of the wet gel and colloidal silica were performed by XRF, DLS, FESEM, TEM, FTIR and N2 sorption evaluation. Accordingly pure and stable colloidal nanosilica (98.50%) with average particle size of 21.9 nm was produced from the glass powder successfully. Specific surface area of the dried porous optimum sample was 83.63 m2/g.