Synthesis of Mesoporous Materials from Vetiver Grass for Wastewater Treatment

In this work, mesoporous materials were synthesised by calcining vetiver leaves at 600 degrees C for 3 hours in natural ambient. Afterwards, the particles were put in ultrasonic bath for 30 minutes and then dried before use. The chemical composition and morphology of the particles was examined using XRF and SEM, respectively. The performance of synthesised materials was evaluated using 10(-5) M of methylene blue (MB) solution. The XRF results indicated the main composition of synthesised materials was similar to 45% of K. Others compositions were Si, P, Ca, Mg, S and Cl. The SEM images presented that synthesised materials was porous and less than 1 micron particles. After 10 minutes, similar to 95% of MB was removed using 3 g/L of mesoporous materials, which remained relatively stable after reusing the materials for 3 times. In summary, the present work shows that the leaves of vetiver grass can be used to synthesise mesoporous materials for wastewater treatment.