Titanosilicate ETS-10 derived from rice husk ash

A detailed characterization study on titanosilicate ETS-10 derived from rice husk ash (RHA) as silica source is reported. It can be prepared through a hydrothermal synthesis route in the absence of seed of ETS-4 and an organic template agent. The effect of different titanium source, crystallization time and temperature as well as the effect of different molar composition on the crystallization and purity of ETS-10 was investigated. The commercial colloidal silica source, Ludox-30 was also used for comparison purpose. A number of characterization techniques namely, Fourier transform infrared, Raman, diffuse reflectance UV–Vis and solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic as well as X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric, field emission scanning electron microscopic, and BET surface area analyses have been employed to correlate the preparation techniques and starting materials with the main features of the ETS-10. A highly pure and crystalline ETS-10 could be obtained from the gels of molar composition TiO2:3.75SiO2:1.5NaOH:0.54KF:21.25H2O at 493 K and 52 h of crystallization time. ETS-10 derived from RHA was found comparable with ETS-10 prepared using Ludox in terms of their physicochemical properties.