Adsorption of toluene and xylene from aqueous solution on SBA-15 from rice husk

Synthesis of Santa Barbara Amorphous-15 (SBA-15) from rice husk ash (Oryza Sativa L.) as toluene and xylene adsorbents has been performed. SBA-15 was synthesised by the modified surfactant template method. SBA-15 from rice husk ash has a surface area of 680 m2/g, a pore diameter of 1.49 nm and a pore volume of 12.5 cm3/g. SAXS pattern of the SBA-15 showed the presence of three distinctive peaks of SBA-15 at 0.99°, 1.54° and 1.74° 2 theta with miller indices [100], [110] and [200]. SEM pictures showed that SBA-15 from rice husk ash has an irregular shape and the particles are in aggregate form. The maximum adsorption capacities of SBA-15 from rice husk ash to toluene and xylene based on the Langmuir isotherm were 175.44 mg/g and 142.86 mg/g, respectively with RL (equilibrium parameter) value within the range 0-1.