Activated alumina is produced through thermal processing (calcination) of bauxite ore, to form aluminium hydroxide. After dehydration in a rotary kiln, activated alumina has a significant surface area which makes it suitable as an adsorbent material.
Contrary to silica gel desiccants, alumina desiccants do not wilt, swell, or disintegrate when immersed in water. Their impressive absorption capacity can even be restored via acid treatment.
Water Purification
Water purification using activated alumina relies heavily on activated alumina as an effective adsorbent, particularly to remove contaminants like arsenic and fluoride. With its large surface area and unique ability to selectively absorb molecules that pose health threats without altering other molecules – something activated alumina accomplishes by creating microscopic terrains on its granule surface which attract molecules for capture.
Adsorption is also an efficient method for treating water, as arsenic can easily be removed by passing water through an activated alumina filter bed for a certain amount of time – one reason adsorption stands out as such an efficient water treatment solution.
In addition to eliminating arsenic from drinking water, activated alumina can also be used to effectively eliminate other impurities, including color and odor, heavy metals like iron and manganese and bacteria from your supply of fresh drinking water. Once activated alumina has purified it for you, your drinking water is safe for consumption!
Consistent monitoring and testing of water quality to make sure alumina filters are working as intended is crucial in order to determining whether they need to be regenerated or replaced. When making this decision, ensure you use an experienced manufacturer of activated alumina so you can enjoy optimal performance from your adsorption system.
Gas Purification
Activated alumina has proven effective at eliminating many contaminants found during gas production processes. For instance, it’s often employed as a catalyst for recovering sulphur in petrochemical applications; defluorinating drinking water processing; de-arsenicing agents in acid industries and purifying various gases like nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, arsenic oxide and sulfur oxide.
In water treatment, activated alumina has proven itself effective at removing fluoride, taste and odor as well as phosphate from water sources. Furthermore, its pore structure can be tailored specifically for individual applications by controlling temperature, time or other variables involved with activation processes.
Actived alumina’s high crush strength makes it suitable for use as a desiccant in compressed air systems, helping prevent equipment corrosion damage while prolonging equipment lifespan. Furthermore, activated alumina may be applied directly into gas pipelines to dehydrate natural gas and prevent any possible corrosion issues that might pose risks during transport.
Electronics packaging is another area where activated alumina has proven useful. Moisture plays a large role in the degradation of electronic components and semiconductors, potentially leading to short circuits, corrosion and system failure. By absorbing ambient moisture activated alumina packaging helps keep products in optimal condition by protecting from damages during long distance shipping or storage.
Chemical Processing
Activated alumina is an inert material that does not react with most chemicals, making it safe to handle when appropriate precautions are taken. Furthermore, its inertness helps prevent microbial contamination of surfaces it’s placed upon; its antimicrobial properties help safeguard against mold growth as well. Activated alumina should be regularly regenerated with chemicals in order to ensure its moisture-absorbing capacity remains functional as a desiccant desiccant function is preserved.
The manufacturing process of activated alumina begins with thermal treatment of boehmite or gibbsite to extract bound water and form alumina, which has high surface area with large pores and channels, giving it a BET (N2)-area of up to 300m2 per gram. Its highly porous structure facilitates its adsorption capabilities before being bound with water to form desired particle sizes such as beads, pellets or granules.
After being subject to initial synthesis and heat treatments to create a matrix and render particles less reactive, alumina is then submitted to additional heat treatments designed to completely dehydrate it before its adsorption process. Following that step, it undergoes further heat treatments in order to fully dehydrate it for the adsorption process and shape it according to specific application needs – this might involve grinding into desired particle size or subjecting it to air atomisation dispersal process, creating fine granules. Alumina can then be incorporated as catalyst support into oil refinements and petrochemical processing or used as desiccant in sulfur recovery units to convert hydrogen sulfide to elemental sulfur.
Electronics Packaging
Activated alumina is an effective desiccant that can protect products against the damaging effects of humidity. Its superior moisture adsorption capacity is due to its extensive porous structure with a high surface area-to-mass ratio. Furthermore, activated alumina offers much safer alternatives than silica gel as it is made from natural aluminium ore and requires only low temperature activation processes; it should however follow any necessary safety precautions and compatibility tests for compatibility purposes before being implemented into an application.
alcan activated alumina is an ideal desiccant to use during packaging and long-distance shipping to help protect electronic components and semiconductors from moisture damage, increasing lifespan while decreasing costly malfunction and repair costs associated with corrosion or oxidation.
Actived alumina boasts superior moisture-adsorption properties as well as strong crush strength and low dust content, making it the perfect material for compressed air drying applications that achieve dew points of -40degF to -100degF depending on dryer design. In addition, activated alumina can also dehumidify industrial gases such as those from chemical processing facilities to help prevent corrosion, rusting and other corrosion-causing issues that threaten pipelines or processing equipment, while its moisture protection properties help shield printed circuit boards or semiconductors during fabrication and packaging processes.