The global high purity activated alumina market is marked by intense competition. Many key players are investing heavily in product innovation and strategic partnerships to maximize operational efficiencies and remain ahead of their rivals.
Asia Pacific dominates the market due to increased industrial development and stringent water quality regulations, while North America and Europe also play key roles due to booming oil & gas exploration & development activities.
Activated alumina
Activated alumina is a highly porous form of aluminium oxide produced through heating aluminium hydroxide in a kiln. This process extracts water molecules, creating an abundance of pores which absorb moisture efficiently to act as desiccant. As its pores absorb excess humidity, activated alumina prevents corrosion, mold growth and degradation to products, thus increasing their shelf life while simultaneously improving their quality.
Activated alumina can be made into various shapes and sizes depending on its intended use, the particle sizes being directly tied to their surface area and porosity – thus impacting their adsorption capacity. Powder, pellets and granules of activated alumina as well as beads may all be found commercially available, with their bulk density typically falling within the range of 0.6 to 0.8 grams per cubic centimetre; their appearance tending toward white or off-white colors.
Alumina’s high adsorption capacity and resistance to chemical attack make it the ideal material for use in harsh environments. En outre, its crush strength enables it to withstand pressure without succumbing to crushing under extreme circumstances, resist thermal shock and corrosion resistance as well as thermal shock resistance. However, for optimal use it should be stored in an enclosed and dry location; compatibility tests must also be performed regularly to ensure it won’t react with other materials in the system.
FEECO Innovation Center is an activated alumina testing laboratory offering thermal and agglomeration testing. As North America’s only laboratory of its kind capable of simultaneously testing both processes in an efficient process loop, this unique technology enables alumina producers to optimize production processes while assuring the highest-quality product.
Spherical alumina
Spherical alumina has many applications and serves a multitude of functions. It is used in thermal interface materials, adsorbents and catalytic systems; has great mechanical and thermal stability that makes it suitable for various environments; resins, rubbers and plastics often incorporate it as fillers and reinforcements; while additive manufacturing allows spherical alumina parts with complex geometries can also benefit.
Powder forms dominate the global spherical alumina market with 33.2% market share. Powder forms of this material are commonly used as desiccant to absorb moisture from air, filter to remove fluoride, arsenic and selenium in drinking water supplies and as essential components in oil and gas refineries for dehydrating crude. With increased demand from both industries–oil & gas as well as water treatment sectors–spherical alumina producers are seeing increasing business.
The production process for spherical alumina begins with dehydroxylation of bauxite ore to produce aluminum hydroxide, which is converted to alumina by Pechiney’s flash process technology. Alumina then undergoes various methods for granulation; some methods involve mixing it with coke and chemicals while others include sanding or crushing before being sold into industrial applications for various industries. Market segments based on particle size include powder, 2-5 mm and 5-10 mm segments which serve specific industry needs respectively.
Catalytic alumina
Activated alumina is widely utilized in numerous industrial processes, including purifying gases and liquids. Due to its large surface area and porous composition, activated alumina absorbs and retains water molecules easily, as well as having strong crush strength resistance against chemical attack – making it an excellent choice for pharmaceutical use in industry settings as well as pharmaceutical manufacturing applications.
It can also serve as a catalyst support for various catalytic reactions. Alumina is particularly effective at heterogeneous catalysis, where metals are supported by different carriers to increase catalytic activity and stability. Alumina makes an economical yet strong catalyst support, easily producing highly dispersed metal nanoparticles.
Example: in an acid-catalyzed self-condensation of alkyl methyl ketones, mesoporous silica-alumina Siralox 30 displayed significantly greater conversion and yield than an optimal catalyst calcined at 350 degC (6% Cu/AC550), due to the generation of Bronsted acid sites on its surface.
Activated alumina can be used to remove contaminants from liquids and gases, such as fluoride from drinking water supplies. It does this by adsorbing fluoride ions before reacting with water molecules – an approach with high success rates that is also less expensive than alternative methods like filtration and electrodialysis.
Molecular sieves
Molecular sieves have numerous industrial uses, from drying gases and liquids, purifying gases and liquids, and speeding chemical reactions, to purifying gases and liquids before drying or purifying. Their useful features include uniform pore size distribution, high surface area, and thermal stability; which make molecular sieves an excellent choice for use in demanding industrial environments.
Molecular sieve adsorbents use size exclusion to filter molecules that are too large for their pores while smaller molecules pass through freely. They are highly effective, durable, reusable and eco-friendly adsorbents; replacing other adsorbents such as chemical refining or oil production with them could prove effective and more cost effective than ever.
Molecular sieve desiccants must be activated before use to achieve their maximum adsorption capacity, using controlled heating to displace water within their material structure. Depending on its intended application, chemical treatments may also be performed to alter its surface chemistry.
Adsorbents used for specialty applications may include moisture removal during the formulation of 1K, 2K or 3K epoxy resins; additionally they may also be utilized to adsorb polar molecules from liquids and gases; in some instances mol sieves can even be regenerated in order to lower energy usage during industrial processes while protecting material structure through regeneration processes.