Synthesis of Porous Alumina from Boehmite Sol

The present work is an attempt to synthesize porous alumina through sol-gel route starting from aluminium nitrate solution. The boehmite sol synthesized from aqueous aluminium nitrate was refluxed alone and also with ammonium acrylate as gel modifier. The resultant gels were then calcined at 400° and 600°C and were further characterized using TGA, FTIR and adsorption studies. The variation in specific surface area and adsorption characteristics is presented. The results indicate that the introduction of ammonium acrylate in boehmite sol is capable of creating mesoporous alumina with narrow pore size distribution.