Abstract:
Natural clay was considered to have potential raw material for zeolite due to it’s high
composed high of SiO2 and Al2O3. Sodalite type zeolite has been successfully prepared
from Maredan’s natural clay using a facile reflux method. The clay was firstly treated
with H2SO4 1 M the pH of the filtrate pH 2. The obtained slurry was dried overnight and
then calcination at 750ºC for 3 hours. The reflux method has been done by mixing the
calcined clay with 50 mL of NaOH 5 M (300 rpm, 8 hours). The final step was rinse with
aqua DM to adjust the pH of the filtrate (pH 10 and 12). The results showed zeolite has
been successfully formed with moderate purities of 21.29-32.43%. From SEM images,
zeolite particles have a similar shape to armadillo scales. Based on the research, it was
known that the pH is a very crucial parameter in synthesis of zeolite sodalite. High value
pH of the filtrate resulted in high purity of zeolite sodalite.
