Zeolit Sintetis dari Fly Ash sebagai Media Penghambat Kelarutan Pupuk (Slow Release Fertilizer)

In many Power Plants there are plenty of materials remaining of coal combustion. The materials are called fly ash. The piling of fly ash around the power plant could make environmental problem. For the reason, it is need to get the benefit of the disposal material. An alternative to utilize fly ash is to convert fly ash as synthetic zeolite. The zeolite may be used as an inhibitor of fertilizer releasing or it is known as slow release fertilizer (SRF). In this study, it will be observed the capability of synthetic zeolite as SRF. The experiment was started by fabricating the synthetic zeolite using fly ash supplied from the Suralaya Power Plant, West Java. Based on x-ray test, the obtained synthetic zeolite has a trend similarities with natural zeolite. To observe the function as SRF, the synthetic zeolites were mixed with urea fertilizer in various ratio and size in water. The dissolved nitrogen in the water may be assumed as indicator of urea releasing into water. It is found that the ratio of zeolite and urea of 8:3 and zeolite size of 50 mesh will control the releasing of urea into water. In that condition, the releasing of urea into water will reach of 40 minutes