In this study, sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) as waste from sugarcane factory was extracted into silica powder. This powder was then used as adsorbent for ethanol purification. Prior to used, the SCBA was washed using HCl solution. The silica extraction was conducted using various NaOH concentrations (0.5; 1; 1.5 and 2 mol/L) as well as extraction times (30, 60 and 90 minutes). After that the mixture was precipitated using HCl solution. The solution was filtrated through a paper filter and its solid particle was dried until its weight was constant. The particle was grounded and sieved using 18 mesh sieves. The silica powder obtained was analysed using FTIR and its result showed that the powder has silica functional groups. The silica yield increases with increasing of concentration of NaOH solution as well as extraction time. The highest silica yield (45.5% w/w) was achieved at 2 mol/L NaOH solution at 90 min. The surface area, pore diameter, and pore volume of silica powder were measured to be 407 m2/g, 3.81Å, and 2.76 dm3/g, respectively. From application of silica powder as adsorbent in adsorptive-distillation, ethanol concentration can reach 99.3% w/w which indicates azeotropic point can be passed.

To cite this article: Megawati et al. (2018). Modelling of adsorptive-distillation of ethanolwater using natural and synthetic zeolites as adsorbent. ABSTRACT:The purpose of this research is to study the modeling of adsorptivedistillation (AD) on ethanol-water mixture purification using natural and synthetic zeolites as adsorbent. The synthetic zeolite type used was zeolite 3A. AD is an effective way to purify ethanol-water mixture so that it can produce pure ethanol as fuel. Natural and synthetic zeolites as adsorbent are quite promising for industrial application. The experiment was conducted in a batch operation. Four AD modellings are developed based on four different simplifications, i.e., quasi-steady-state with no axial dispersion (Model 1), unsteady-state with no axial dispersion (Model 2), quasi-steady-state with axial dispersion (Model 3) and unsteady-state with axial dispersion (Model 4). The equilibrium equation correlating water content in vapour and water content in adsorbent particle was approximated by Henry's law model.

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