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

• Main Authors: Bin Mokaizh, A.A., Shariffuddin, J.H., Baarimah, A.O., Al-Fakih, A., Mohamed, A., Baarimah, S.O., Al-Mekhlafi, A.-B.A., Alenezi, H., Olalere, O.A., Saeed, A.A.H.
• Format: Article
• Published: MDPI 2022
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85129279512&doi=10.3390%2fma15093046&partnerID=40&md5=f3d51b5e206243f6ea14c0e4c96ee009; http://eprints.utp.edu.my/33110/

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. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.