A Facile Temperature-Controlled "Green" Method to Prepare Multi-kinds of High-Quality Alumina Hydrates via a Ga-In-Sn-Alloyed Aluminum-Water Interface Reaction.

Abstract

The Al sheets alloyed by Ga-In-Sn are generally utilized to react with water for H2 production, while the valuable byproducts, i.e., alumina hydrates, have not been fully studied. In this work, through controlling the reaction temperature, three types of alumina hydrates, bayerite (40 °C), pseudo-boehmite (PB) (70–120 °C), and boehmite (130–160 °C), were successfully prepared based on a series of interface reactions and structural transformations. These alumina hydrates and their calcined products (alumina) possess high purity with a total impurity element content of <450 ppm, especially an extremely low sodium content (<21 ppm) and iron content (<52 ppm). Significantly, the obtained pseudo-boehmite displays excellent surface properties (specific surface area: 332.7 m2 g–1, pore volume: 0.3 cm3 g–1, and pore diameter: 3.6 nm), competitive to the current commercial SB powder by Sasol. This work not only deepens the understanding of the byproducts in a Ga-In-Sn-alloyed Al–water reaction but also establishes a facile “green” method oriented to industrial applications, which is promising for the linkage benefits of the hydrogen production industry.