Preparation and Characterization of Activated Alumina

¹ School of Environmental Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Kompleks Pusat Pengajian Jejawi 3, 02600 Arau, Perlis, Malaysia
² Faculty of Engineering Technology, Kampus Uniciti Alam Sg. Chuchuh, 02100 Padang Besar, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP)

^* Corresponding author: elmahdy1999@yahoo.com

Abstract

Activated alumina is a high surface area and highly porous form of aluminum oxide that can be employed for contaminant species adsorb from ether gases or liquids without changing its form. The research in getting this material has generated huge interested. Thus, this paper presented preparation of activated alumina from chemical process. Pure aluminum (99.9% pure) reacted at room temperature with an aqueous NaOH in a reactor to produce a solution of sodium aluminate (NaAlO₂). This solution was passed through filter paper and the clear filtrate was neutralized with H₂SO₄, to pH 6, 7 or 8, resulting in the precipitation of a white gel, Al(OH)3·XH2O. The washed gel for sulfate ions were dried at 80 °C for 6 h, a 60 mesh sieve was to separate and sort them into different sizes. The samples were then calcined (burn) for 3h in a muffle furnace, in air, at a heating rate of 2 °C min^–1. The prepared activated alumina was further characterized for better understanding of its physical properties in order to predict its chemical mechanism.