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Photos in the production of Aerogels from Rice and Rice Husk

 Rice husk provides the company an abundant supply of raw materials for the production of aerogels. It is a good source of silica (silicon dioxide) and silicon crystals. Rice husk is considered as an agricultural waste in most rice producing countries. It has not much commercial value to the rice producing countries  

 

Burning of rice husk at different temperatures produces different kinds of ashes. figure a. is raw rice husk, figure b. is carbonize rice husk ash, figure c. is grounded carbonized rice husk ash and figure d. combusted rice ash at 700 degrees celcius.

Once the rice husk are burned without releasing CO2 in the atmosphere the end product is rice husk ash. It has many industrial uses. The company uses a patented technology to purify the silica content of the ash up to 99%. The impurities are metallic salts which can be processed as fertilizers in rice production. The purified SiO2 can be processed further to produce Silicon crystals for the production of microchips and solar cells or photovoltaic panels.

 

 

  

Fermentation of Rice Soup to produce Rice Vinegar which is later used to produce acetic acid.
Acetic acid is produced by a bacteria  called acetobacter in the  fermentation of rice soup and wine. The bacteria can grow abundantly in tropical climates. The acid is collected and is used as a neutralizing agent in the production of silica aerogels. The image on the left are colonies of the bacteria and the image on the right is a magnified image of the bacteria. Acetic acid molecule shown below. Rice is also a source of amorphous carbon. Amorphous carbon is used in the production of carbon aerogels while silica is used in the production of silicon based aerogels.