Mesoporous alumina prepared from waste aluminum cans and used as catalytic support for toluene oxidation

Abstract Mesoporous aluminas with high specific surface area were synthesized successfully via a template-free sol–gel method from aluminum isopropoxide (AIP) and aluminum hydroxide produced from waste aluminum cans. After calcinations at 500 °C, the synthesized mesoporous aluminas were in gamma phase. The BET surface areas of the mesoporous aluminas obtained from synthesized AIP (427–556 m 2 ·g − 1 ) were higher than that prepared from aluminum hydroxide (421 m 2 ·g − 1 ). The synthesized alumina products have worm-like pores without long-range ordered framework. Liquid phase oxidation of toluene catalyzed by NiO supported on these mesoporous alumina has been carried out at room temperature.