Hydrothermal Synthesis and Characterization of Zeolite A from Corn (Zea Mays) Stover Ash

This study deals with the impact of calcination, alkalinity, and curing time parameters on the hydrothermal synthesis of zeolite A. The zeolite A sample, produced from corncob-stalk-and-leaves (corn stover) ash was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that calcination, alkalinity, and curing time have significant effects on the crystallization and the morphology of zeolite A. In addition, these parameters also impacted the cation exchange capacity. Furthermore, the synthesized zeolite A was obtained using a calcination temperature of 500 °C within two hours of airflow, which is much lower than the temperatures previously reported in the literature for an agricultural waste and other waste materials. A fusion ratio of corn stover ash:NaOH of 1.0:1.5 and a curing time of nine hours were achieved. This is a major result as this curing time is much lower than those featured in other studies, which can reach up to twenty-four hours. In this paper, cubic crystal with rounded edge of zeolite A, having a cation exchange capacity of 2.439 meq Na⁺/g of synthesized anhydrous zeolite A, was obtained, which can be a good candidate for ion-exchange separation.