The adsorption kinetics and equilibrium of silica-gel functionalized with amino-terminated dendrimer-like polyamidoamine ( PAMAM) polymers SiO(2)-G1.0, SiO(2)-G2.0 and SiO(2)-G3.0 for Cu(2+) in ethanol fuel were investigated by using batch method. The results indicated that the all the adsorptions of the three adsorbents followed well the pseudo second-order model. The adsorption isotherms were fitted by Langmuir model, Freundlich model and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) model. The results showed that Langmuir model was more suitable to describe the equilibrium data than the Freundlich model. From the D-R isotherm model, the mean free energy E calculated of the three adsorbents showed that the adsorptions were taken place by physical processes. Thermodynamic parameters, Delta G(0), Delta H(0) and Delta S(0) indicated the Cu(2+) adsorption to be endothermic and spontaneous with decreased randomness at the solid-solution interface, resulting in their higher adsorption capacities at higher temperature. The effect of generation number of PAMAM polymers loaded on silica-gel, contact time, initial concentration and temperatures on the adsorption capabilities were studied in detail. Moreover, the adsorption mechanism of copper from ethanol fuel was also presumed. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.