Iron and boron removal from sodium silicate using complexation methods

Silica purification of other materials is needed to improve the purity of silica that suitable for solar cells requirement. The silica is obtained from roasting of sand minerals in sodium silicate form. Iron (Fe) and boron (B) are an impurity that must be separated to obtain high pure silica. Separation of Fe and B used complexation methods. Chitosan-EDTA is used to remove Fe component and curcumin is used to remove B component. The elemental analysis with Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) showed the amount of Fe in sodium silicate decreased after binding to Chitosan EDTA. The contact duration between sodium silicate and chitosan-EDTA at baseline did not affect the results. Then the removal of B from sodium silicate using curcumin was done under basic conditions. B-Curcumin complexes were known from the wavelength number shifts of O-H, C-O, and C = O vibrational in the IR spectrum. The results showed that the optimum concentration of curcumin for removal B was 2 × 10−7 M.