Application of activated alumina as adsorbent

The main industrial applications of activated alumina as adsorbents include gas drying, liquid drying, water purification, selective adsorption in the petroleum industry, and chromatographic separation processes.

Because activated alumina has a strong affinity for water, it is widely used in gas drying. The gases that can be dried with activated alumina mainly include: acetylene, cracking gas, coke oven gas, hydrogen, oxygen, air, ethane, hydrogen chloride, propane, ammonia, ethylene, hydrogen sulfide, propylene, argon, methane, sulfur dioxide, Carbon dioxide, natural gas, helium, nitrogen, chlorine, etc. Since activated alumina releases a lot of heat when it absorbs water, the application should be designed in a comprehensive way, such as drying capacity, drying speed, heat exchange and regeneration method.

The main liquids that can be dried by activated alumina are: aromatic hydrocarbons, polymer olefins, gasoline, kerosene, cyclohexane, propylene, butene, and many halogenated hydrocarbons. When these liquids are in contact with alumina, the two will not react or polymerize, and at the same time, the dried liquid does not contain components that are easily adsorbed on the surface of alumina and are not easily removed during regeneration.

In terms of water purification, in addition to being mainly used to remove fluoride in drinking water, activated alumina is also very effective in eliminating the color and odor of industrial sewage. In addition, activated alumina is also widely used in the recovery and selective adsorption of carbohydrates and the maintenance of power system oils.