Production of reactive bio-silica from the combustion of rice husk in a tube-in-basket (TiB) burner

Abstract

Rice husk, the main by-product of milling rice paddy and an agro-waste, is available in vast quantities in the rice-growing regions. On combustion, rice husk leaves behind about 20% ash composed essentially of bio-silica. This cheap and abundant source of reactive silica powder has numerous diverse applications, ranging from electronic-grade silicon to pozzolana cements. The phase composition of silica in the ash and its surface area depend critically on the temperature of combustion of the rice husk. A Tube-in-Basket (TiB) burner described here burns rice husk in a controlled manner to produce amorphous silica powder of high surface area, as characterized by X-ray and BET analyses.