The objective of this study was to (1) use sugar cane ash, Bagasse ash and silica fumes as raw materials for silica recovery, due to its low price and availability and (2) compare the recovery from the raw materials and produce silica gel.The methods used to recover silica were alkali-solubility based method and sonication. The ash from the low cost precursors were treated with NaOH solution and sonicated for a period of time. The silica recovered as sodium silicate, by filtration, from each raw material is compared and analyzed. In general, when sodium silicate is treated with acid, different amorphous and mesoporous silica are produced. The silica gel was synthesized using the acidification of sodium silicate solution.Silica recovery was promising based on the comparison of the silica content before and after the process, with silica fumes having the highest recovery of silica. Thus the sodium silicate from the raw material silica fumes was used in the preparation of silica gel using acidification method and then analyzed. The modified recovery process proves to be a promising method for the recovery of silica from natural sources.
