Elucidating the Effects of Reaction Time on the Physicochemical Characterization of Valorized Synthesized Alumina

• Published in: Materials Vol. 15; no. 9; p. 3046
• Main Authors: Bin Mokaizh, Aiman A, Shariffuddin, Jun Haslinda, Baarimah, Abdullah O, Al-Fakih, Amin, Mohamed, Abdullah, Baarimah, Salem O, Al-Mekhlafi, Al-Baraa Abdulrahman, Alenezi, Hamoud, Olalere, Olusegun Abayomi, Saeed, Anwar Ameen Hezam
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22.04.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Alumina; Aluminum oxide; aluminum waste can; Boehmite; characterization; Corundum; Crystal structure; Crystallinity; Diaspore; Fourier transforms; Functional groups; Long range order; Metropolitan areas; Potash; Potassium; Public health; Reaction time; Sol-gel processes; sol–gel synthesis; Spectrum analysis; Sulfur; Transitional aluminas; Malaysia; aluminum oxide; aluminum waste can; sol–gel synthesis; characterization
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944
• DOI: 10.3390/ma15093046

Aluminum waste-can management in Malaysia has recently become a serious environmental and public health issue, particularly in metropolitan areas. This has prompted the need to valorize these waste-cans into value-added products using the most economical and environmentally friendly techniques. In this study, the sol-gel technique was used to synthesize high-quality alumina from the aluminum waste-cans collected. From this method, the observed peaks of the synthesized alumina were identified as diaspore (α-AlO(OH)), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), aluminum oxide, or gamma-alumina (γ-Al O ) crystalline structure and corundum. The morphological configuration, microstructure, and functional group properties of the synthesized alumina were evaluated. All the synthesized alumina exhibited a non-spherical shape and appeared to have hexagonal-like shape particles. Moreover, the XRD patterns of the synthesized alumina AL-6-30 and AL-12-30 exhibited a small angle (1-10°) with no XRD peak, which indicated a mesoporous pore structure with no long-range order. The overall results of γ-alumina synthesized from the aluminum waste-cans showed an optimal condition in producing a highly structured γ-alumina with excellent surface-area characteristics. The synthesized alumina exhibited stronger and highly crystalline functional characteristics almost comparable with the commercially available brands on the market.