Influence of the Obtaining Method on the Properties of Amorphous Aluminum Compounds

Amorphous aluminum compounds are formed during the synthesis of the γ-Al2O3 catalyst precursor. Amorphous compounds influence on the alumina catalyst variously due to different physicochemical properties, which depend on the method of their preparation. In this research, the comparative analysis of physicochemical properties of amorphous aluminum compounds that were obtained by the precipitation method, the thermal decomposition of aluminum nitrate, and alcoxide hydrolysis product were studied. It is the first time that a new method for calculating of quantitative phase composition of amorphous aluminum compounds using the X-ray powder diffraction, thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry analysis, mass-spectrometry, and CHN-analysis was described. Properties of obtaining samples were studied using scanning electron microscopy, low-temperature nitrogen adsorption, and temperature programmed desorption of ammonium analyses. The methods of precipitation and thermal decomposition of aluminum nitrate allows for obtaining non-porous samples consisting of a mixture of amorphous phases (hydroxide and basic salt) that contain the metals impurities and have low acidity of the oxides obtained from them. The highly porous amorphous alumina formed by the thermal decomposition of the alcoxide hydrolysis product with the least amount of impurities and a high acidity of the surface was observed.