Physical and Mechanical Properties of Porcelain Formed by Substituting Quartz with HCl Treated Palm Oil Fuel Ash

Abstract

Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA), is a waste material from palm oil industries that has potential of recycling in the porcelain production due to its high content of silica. POFA is produced by burning palm oil shells, empty fruit branches and fibers as a fuel to heat up the boiler for electricity generation in the industries. This research is aimed at producing porcelain with the substitution of treated POFA with quartz at 20 wt%. Treated POFA was dried in an oven for 24 hours at 110°C and ground using ball mill machine for 12 hours to get particle size Ë‚50µm. 20 wt% of POFA powder was substituted for quartz and mixed with the composition of porcelain for 12 hours and then pressed into pellets at a mold pressure of 91 MPa. The pellets were sintered at a temperature of 1200°C for 2 hours soaking time at a heating rate of 5°C per minute. It was revealed that the maximum density was achieved at 2.38g/cm³ as the molarity of HCl is increased to 3 mole with the counterpart hardness of 7826 MPa. This improvement may be attributed to the increased in the silica content as a result of treatment of POFA with HCl acid.