Authors:
Lilis Sukeksi
;
Chandra Sitorus
and
Andy Junianto Sidabutar
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Jl. Almamater Kampus USU, Medan 20155, Indonesia
Keyword(s):
Waste, Utilized, Kapok Pods, Burned, Potassium Oxide
Abstract:
Nowadays, various combinations of agricultural waste and others material have been successfully made into commercial products. Kapok pods can be processed into a source of potassium oxide which may have an impact on the reduction of environment pollution caused by industrial kapok.The purposes of this works were to determine the best of combustion time and temperature to produced potassium oxide from ash that made from kapok pods. The kapok pods were dried at 110˚C for 24 hours to obtain the dry of kapok pods. Those kapok pods were burned at 500˚C, 550˚C, 600˚C, and 650˚C by muffle furnace, with a burning time of 3, 4, 5, and 6 hours. The potassium that contained in ash had been extracted by distilled water for 24 hours. The highest content of Potassium Oxide (K2O) resulting from the 3 hours of combustion at 500˚C was 35.91%. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) was used to analyze the Potassium Oxide (K2O).