A facile method for the production of high-surface-area mesoporous silica gels from geothermal sludge

Mesoporous silica gels were successfully produced from geothermal sludge by alkali extraction followed by acidification. The silica in the geothermal sludge was dissolved by NaOH solution to produce a sodium silicate solution, which was then reacted with HCl or tartaric acid to produce silica gels. The effects of silica concentration and pH on the silica gel properties were investigated. In addition, an improved method was proposed by incorporating two-step aging. The first aging step, which was conducted at pH 10, was used to induce Ostwald ripening to increase the size of the primary particles, and the second step was used to strengthen the gel network. Decreasing the silica concentration by diluting the as-prepared sodium silicate solution tended to increase the surface area and pore volume of the prepared silica gels. The silica gels produced by tartaric acid possessed higher surface area and pore volume than those by HCl. The surface area and pore volume reached approximately 450 m² g^-1 and 0.8 cm³ g^-1, respectively. When the gelation pH was decreased to 6, the surface area exceeded 600 m² g^-1. The first aging process increased the size and uniformity of the primary particles, which in turn increased the surface area of the particles. The pore diameter for all cases was greater than 5 nm, indicating that the silica gels were mesoporous.