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this, the researchers decided to use novel material like lemongrass (Cymbopogon

citratus) which is from the family of monocotyledons that accumulates a great amount of

silica.

Due to the high silica content of lemongrass ash which is 73.46%, the researchers

will produce an envirogel using the Sol-Gel method and evaluate it experimentally as a

desiccant material. The existing study of silica powder derived from bamboo leaves ash

is taken into consideration in formulating the concept of this research. However, the

present study is different from the previous one since the present study aims to produce

an envirogel which is a color indicating silica gel impregnated with methyl violet rather

than silica powder. It also utilizes the alkali extraction method during the Sol-Gel process

to obtain and synthesize silica while BLA study utilizes ashing method followed by acid

treatment to synthesize silica.

Research Questions

The researchers intended to evaluate the envirogel from lemongrass as desiccant

material using sol-gel method therefore, this study aims to answer the following:

1. What treatment (concentration of KOH solution, extraction time, gel drying

temperature, and gel drying time) yielded the highest silica percentage of

hydrogel derived from lemongrass?

2. What treatment (pH level of methyl violet solution, impregnation time, envirogel

drying temperature and envirogel drying time) resulted in the best property of

envirogel?

3. What is the degree of degradation of produced envirogel after undergoing

several tests of adsorption capacity?

4. Is there a significant difference between the envirogel derived from lemongrass

(Cymbopogon citratus) by sol-gel method to the commercially available color

indicating silica gel?