Comprehensive Research on Microsilica
The project “Comprehensive Research on Microsilica” was funded by the R-S Silicon company.
The project lasted for one year (from September 13th, 2018 till September 13th, 2019).
Microsilica (MS) is a by-product of the silicon metal production with particle size in the range of 30–300 nm. Microsilica, with silicon dioxide content of more than 85%, is commonly used as an additive in Portland cement concretes and fireproof material to improve their properties due to amorphous nature and extremely high surface area.
How to better utilize Microsilica resource, especially the low quality Microsilica is one of the main issues of R-S Silicon Company that was addressed through this study. The study was divided into four different sequences to provide more comprehensive results and to give the company future ability to decide in which direction to go.
First part of the project was dealing with evaluating microsilica influence of crops and use of plant secondary metabolites in crop protection. The questions were: what effect does microsilica has on crops growth and can we adsorb plants active compounds on microsilica to be applied it in the crops protection.
Second part of the research was dealing with carbon – microsilica and alumina – microsilica composites as sorbents for the water filtration. The questions were: Could microsilica particles be combined with active carbon and alumina to make good and cheap material for water filtration.
Third part of the project was dealing with microsilica as a carrier for selected commercial pesticides. Question to be answered was: Can we use microsilica particles as a carrier for selected commercial pesticides and can we control pesticide release (adsorption-desorption)?
Fourth part of the project aimed to cover the silica particle with carbon shells. In this experiment the waste cellulose fibers from the local paper mill will be applied. This way the combination of two waste materials should give a valuable product applicable in batteries industry.
Members of the project team: Saša Zeljković, associate professor as a principal investigator; Milica Balaban, associate professor, Suzana Gotova Atlagić, assistant professor and Biljana Kukavica, associate professor as co-investigators and Ivan Samelak, Dino Hasanagić, Sanja Šehovac, Savka Janković and Dragana Milisavić as research assistants.