Y. Kianinia, A. K. Darban, E. Taheri-Nassaj, B. Rahnama, A. Foroutan,
Volume 12, Issue 1 (march 2015 2015)
Abstract
A method for producing high surface area nano-sized mesoporous alumina from inexpensive Iranian kaolin
as raw material is proposed. In this method, first, kaolin was purified for purifying Kaolin, High Grade Magnetic
Separation and leaching with HCl and chemical bleaching treatment by using sodium dithionite (Na
2
S
2O4
) as reducing
agent in acidic media (H
2SO
4
) were used. Purified kaolin was calcined. After that, Al (hydr) oxide from acid -leachates of calcined kaolin was precipitated with ammonia, in presence of polyethylene glycol. Finally, a white
powder of nano-sized alumina particles was obtained after calcination. BET surface area, X-ray diffraction (XRD),
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize
the sample. The resulting alumina with relatively high surface area (201.53 m
2
g
-1
) and narrow mean pore diameter
(6.91 nm), consists of a particle size distribution ranging from 22 to 36 nm.
