This research deals with the synthesis of silica which can be used as an adsorbent or adsorbent. The focus of this
research is the effect of the hydrothermal stage and surfactant removal on adsorption stability. The target characteristics of
this adsorbent have a performance in increasing the quality / concentration of bioethanol so that it can be used as a high
fuel grade. In addition, the characteristics of this adsorbent material are easy to apply and can be reused. In the preliminary
experiment for batch adsorption applications tested at a composition of 1:40 for the ratio of silica to bioethanol. This
composition is applied to 3 types of silica that have been synthesized, namely silica A (Hydrothermal and calcination),
silica B (Non Hydrothermal and Calcined) and silica C (Non Hydrothermal and Calcined). The adsorption performance of
Silica A and B was not too different, which was able to increase the concentration of bioethanol by 3.5% and 3.3%. This
is due to the fact that the calcination steps carried out on silica A and B succeeded in removing the surfactants whose
indications can be shown on the FTIR spectrum. Silica A as the best synthesis result in the adsorbent application in this
study which has hydrothermal and calcination characteristics. This silica has a characteristic average pore size of 3.2864
nm or mesoporous. The best performance of silica at room temperature with a contact time of 15 minutes with the agitation
method can increase the ethanol concentration from 70% to 76.62% as indicated by using the Gas Chromatography
instrument.