A bench work study was carried out to investigate the use of kaolinitic clay containing 29.4% Al2O3 extremely abundant in Saudi Arabia for the production of pure alumina by calcination at 700 o C for 1h (recommended by previous investigators) then leached by hydrochloric acid. The effects of leaching temperature (25 o C to boiling temperature), period of activation (10-150 minutes), acid concen...

Alumina nanofibers were prepared by a technique that combined the sol-gel and electrospinning methods. The solution to be electrospun was prepared by mixing aluminum isopropoxide (AIP) in ethanol, which was then refluxed in the presence of an acid catalyst and polyvinylpyrolidone (PVP) in ethanol. The characterization results showed that alumina nanofibers with diameters in the range of 102 to ...

DRIFTS, was used to study small organic molecules, with and without functional groups, adsorbed to the surface of γ-alumina and kaolinite clay from a non-polar solvent. Adsorbed water is present on the surface of both minerals and this influences the adsorption of organic molecules from, the non-polar solvent, onto the mineral surface, particularly the interaction of polar functional groups wit...

Direct sulfonation of methane with SO3 to methanesulfonic acid (MSA) is accomplished in sulfuric acid with almost 100% selectivity in the presence of a catalyst, namely, Ce and Rh salts and molecular oxygen as the catalyst regenerator. In the absence of O2, the catalyst remains effective but the selectivity to MSA decreases to 53% and byproducts, principally CH3OSO3H, are formed. The effects of...

The reaction of γ-alumina with tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) vapor at low temperatures selectively yields monomeric SiO(x) species on the alumina surface. These isolated (-AlO)3Si(OH) sites are characterized by PXRD, XPS, DRIFTS of adsorbed NH3, CO, and pyridine, and (29)Si and (27)Al DNP-enhanced solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The formation of isolated sites suggests that TEOS reacts preferent...