Abstract:
Rice husk is one of the main agricultural waste available in Sri Lanka. They are the outer
covering of rice grains. Once the paddy is separated from rice grain, the husk is removed from rest of
the grain. This study show depending on rice husk variety moisture content, average bulk density,
amount of precipitated silica varies. Further EDX analysis show depending on variety percentage of
Oxygen, Silicon and other contaminants are varied. Eight different rice husk varieties available in North
Western Province is studied in this research. Moisture Content (MC), average bulk density and silica
content in each variety were initially calculated. Moisture content varies between 10.42% to 12.84%.
Average bulk density varies between 214.42 𝑘𝑔 𝑚−3
to 268.57 𝑘𝑔 𝑚−3
. Highest amount of silica was
obtained as 98.2% from Murugakanayan rice variety. Lowest amount of silica was obtained as 74%
from BG 360 rice variety. A typical XRD, SEM patterns and EDX was done to silica samples obtained
from rice husk ash. Amorphous nature of the obtained silica was confirmed from XRD spectra. There
is a broad peak with maximum intensity at 2Ө = 22 ͦin XRD spectra. SEM images have shown that
these silica particles were aggregated as irregular rod shape clusters. EDX images confirm high amount
of sample weight contain silicon and oxygen. Yet very less amount of sodium is available in the sample.
