Date : 2011. 10. 6, 5:00 PM Place : Mogam Hall, Bldg.500 -Abstract-    Agricultural products used as alternative energy sources can generate considerable waste. For example, Wadham Energy of Williams, CA burns more than 240k tons of rice hulls/year to generate 26 MWh of electricity yearly. The byproduct is 40k tons/yr of rice hull ash (RHA). RHA consists of 65-90 wt % low impurity, high surface area amorphous, porous silica mixed with low impurity, amorphous carbon.    We have learned to extract the silica from RHA at relatively low temperatures using Me4NOH to produce the a single octaanion product, (Me4N+)8(-OSiO1.5)8 (OA) in 90 % yields.1 OA is spherical single crystal of silica that is a starting point for the synthesis of a wide variety of silsesquioxane (SQ) molecules of the form (RMe2SiOSiO1.5)8.2 OA can also be be purified to ≥ 99.999 % purity offers access to numberous low cost silicon containing materials.