Elucidating the effects of reaction time on the physicochemical characterization of valorized synthesized alumina

• Main Authors: Mokaizh, A. A., Jun Haslinda, Shariffuddin, 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: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2022
• Subjects: QD Chemistry; TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/34641/1/Elucidating%20the%20effects%20of%20reaction%20time%20on%20the%20physicochemical%20characterization.pdf; http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/34641/; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15093046; https://doi.org/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-Al2O3 ) 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.