Activated alumina has an affinity for water that makes it an effective desiccant, capable of drawing moisture out of air, gas, and liquid streams and improving compressed air systems and industrial processes.
Activated alumina is created through controlled heating of aluminum oxide (alumina). This heating breaks down its crystal lattice structure, leaving a porous structure.
High Crush Strength
Activated alumina is an ideal material for desiccation of gases and liquids in industrial processes, thanks to its ability to bind to impurities like metals and prevent them from leeching back into the environment. Therefore, activated alumina is often chosen as part of cleaning solutions to rid industrial sites and plants of any toxic materials or waste that accumulate.
As it can maintain its adsorption capability even at high temperatures, activated carbon is a useful material for processing petrochemicals and other chemicals, and as a catalyst support in Claus sulfur recovery efforts at oil and gas refineries.
Activated alumina is created through controlled heating of hydrated alumina, which strips it of its water molecules and fractures the crystal lattice structure, creating a matrix with well-defined pores and an extensive surface area, producing an efficient absorber of gases and liquids, capable of selectively adsorbing specific chemicals or materials while rejecting others.
High Adsorption Capacity
Activated alumina’s high surface area and extensive tunnel-like pores enable it to attract large quantities of moisture and other contaminants, making it an excellent solution for many different applications, including the removal of fluoride and arsenic from drinking water, or removal of sulfur compounds (humic and fulvic acids) from soil.
Activated alumina desiccants differ from other desiccants in that their absorption capacity does not decrease with regeneration, eliminating the need to purchase replacement material and providing significant cost savings. This makes activated alumina an economical choice when protecting chemicals or machinery against moisture damage during packaging applications such as protecting chemicals or machinery against potential moisture issues.
This property makes activated alumina an excellent material to use for shipping and storing sensitive electronic components and devices, protecting against moisture-induced damage or degradation. Furthermore, its adsorption capacity prevents contamination by trapping impurities within packages – thus making alumina a suitable choice for protecting pharmaceutical products or food products’ integrity.
High Surface Area
Activated alumina is composed of aluminium oxide (Al2O3), the same chemical compound found in sapphires and rubies. With its extremely large surface area and extensive network of pores and channels throughout its structure, activated alumina boasts impressive absorption capacities to ensure clean liquids or gases pass through it without contamination.
Activated alumina’s unique adsorption properties make it particularly effective at water purification applications, where its use involves fluoride removal, arsenic removal and phosphate removal from drinking water. Furthermore, activated alumina can be recycled multiple times with reduced operational costs and environmental impacts.
Due to its large surface area and porosity, activated carbon is an ideal adsorbent for gas and vapour absorption, particularly within natural gas and petrochemical industries. Its ability to remove moisture, carbon dioxide, trace acidic compounds and other impurities from gas streams enables improved product quality, efficiency and safety – ultimately increasing product value, efficiency and safety.
High Porosity
Activated alumina’s high porosity and surface area make it an ideal material for gas and vapour adsorption in natural gas and petrochemical applications, particularly natural gas refining processes. By filtering harmful gases like carbon dioxide, sulfur compounds, or trace impurities from gas streams, activated alumina helps improve product purity while simultaneously decreasing environmental emissions.
Activated alumina’s adsorption capacity is highly selective, enabling it to target specific molecules or substances while rejecting others. Furthermore, this adsorbent can be recycled without significantly degrading its abilities as an adsorbent.
Activated alumina is generally safe to work with when handled appropriately, providing appropriate precautions are taken. It is non-toxic, non-reactive and inert against most chemicals including acids. Furthermore, its high temperature resistance makes it suitable for industrial and medical applications; however it should always be tested to determine its chemical compatibility before being implemented into an application.
High Resistance to Thermal and Mechanical Shock
Activated alumina has superior crush strength and thermal shock resistance. Furthermore, its chemical-resistance makes it suitable for numerous industrial applications.
Numerous companies operate in the activated alumina market, using mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures as key strategies to expand regionally. Furthermore, they invest heavily in research and development activities in order to produce environmentally-friendly products.
Activated alumina begins as aluminum hydroxide (gibbsite or boehmite), produced through the Bayer process from bauxite ore, before being subject to chemical reactions that increase surface area and adsorption properties, producing a highly porous, white spherical substance which is non-toxic, odorless, tasteless, insoluble with water or most organic solvents and used as gas drying and purification media as well as defluoridation programs to remove fluoride from drinking water supplies.
Low Moisture Content
Moisture and humidity can wreak havoc on industrial processes, medical equipment, and air dryers alike. That is why activated alumina is the perfect way to avoid this from happening – its surface absorbs any moisture or humidity present in the air and keeps it away.
This can protect your equipment, reduce corrosion and microbial growth, extend product lifespan and ensure proper conditioning of activated alumina. To make sure activated alumina remains in top shape, it should be regularly tested and regenerated.
The FEECO Innovation Center offers both thermal and agglomeration testing on batch and pilot scale kilns, as well as continuous process loops. This unique testing environment enables us to collect all the data necessary for creating an agglomerate with suitable characteristics for your application.
When handling activated alumina, it is essential to wear personal protective equipment (PPE). This may include safety goggles or face shields, chemical-resistant gloves and a dust mask to avoid inhaling airborne particles or ingestion or ingestion by yourself or others.