A Study on Silica and Alumina Potential of the Savannah Bagasse Ash

A. M. Usman, A. Raji, N. H. Waziri, M. A. Hassan
2014 IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  
This study was carried out to determine silica and alumina potential of ash of sugarcane bagasse obtained from Savannah Sugar Company Numan, Adamawa state of Nigeria. Sugarcane bagasse samples were burnt in a metallurgical furnace at three different temperatures of 500 o C, 600 o C and 700 o C. The percentages of ashes that remained after burning were found to be 12.65%, 10.89% and 9.95%, respectively. The ashes were ground to powder and using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) machine, the samples of
more » ... ashes were analysed to determine their percentage chemical oxide composition. The XRF results show that the silica contents are 76.168%, 76.292% and 77.286% while alumina contents are 11.079%, 11.410% and 10.951% for 500 o C, 600 o C and 700 o C respectively. It was concluded that the sugarcane bagasse ash has high silica and alumina total content both of which are the most commonly used reinforcing materials in aluminium matrix composites. It was recommended that to enhance the application of the ash as reinforcement, the ash should be further heated at 1100 o C and above for a period of 2 -3hours.
doi:10.9790/1684-11354852 fatcat:ibc335kvkrdgba377hlhqzevxy