Abstract:
Fly ash Coal is one of the potential wastes as a raw material in the manufacture of
synthetic zeolite. This study aims to synthesize zeolite A of coal fly ash and its
utilization in adsorption of cadmium(II) metal ions. Synthesis was carried out by
melting fly ash with NaOH at 550 ˚C. Zeolite was characterized using XRD to
show a diffraction pattern resembling zeolite A based on JCPDS data (Joint
Committee of Powder Diffraction Standards) which is indicated by the emergence
of specific peaks on the diffractogram ranging from 2θ 7˚ to 16˚, namely 7.18˚;
10,17˚; 12.46˚; and 16,11˚. Analysis using FTIR showed that zeolite A has the Al-
O-Si functional group, double rings, T-O strain symmetry and T-O asymmetric
strain. The synthesized zeolite A was applied for adsorption of cadmium(II) ions
with various contact times of 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes and 120 minutes
which were then characterized using AAS. The optimum adsorption efficiency
was obtained at 60 minutes contact time of 66.18% with an adsorption capacity of
7.7487 mg/g.
