Clay-Based Porous Ceramic Made From Peanut Shell (Arachis Hypogea) Shell Waste

Porous ceramics have a high percentage of porosity ranging from 20% to 95%. Porous ceramic has a vital role in many applications, such as filtering systems thermal insulators, and biomedical. Porous ceramic formulation is ceramic powder and pore-forming agent (PFA). Researchers studied the suitability of food waste (banana peel, corn cob, and coffee ground) as PFA to produce porous ceramic. High moisture content of those food waste causes the waste preparation process to be difficult. It was found that moisture content of peanut shell was lower than other food waste and will make the waste preparation process more feasible. The objective of this study was to investigate the suitability of peanut shells as Pore-Forming Agent (PFA) for porous ceramic and to study the effect of weight percentage of peanut shell waste and the sintering temperature on the porous ceramic's physical and mechanical properties. The porous ceramic was produced by the sacrificial fugitive method. The physical properties were inspected in the water absorption test, bulk density, linear shrinkage, apparent porosity, volume shrinkage, morphology (SEM analysis), and crystalline phase present (XRD characterization). The mechanical properties were inspected using a compressive strength test. The result revealed that the increase in the weight percentage of peanut shell powder (PSP) in the porous ceramic decreases the compressive strength and increases the porosity. XRD result showed the presence of crystalline phase such as quartz, diopside and sanidine and illite in addition of peanut shell powder (PSP). SEM result showed the pore formation increase with the addition of PSP. A well balance of porosity and compressive strength was found in the porous ceramic with the 10 wt.% of PSP, sintered at 900 °C. The obtained porous ceramic could be found in thermal insulating and building applications.
Keywords: Peanut Shell, Pore-Forming Agent (PFA), Porous Ceramic