Synthesis of alumina from aluminium can waste to be applied as catalyst support for biodiesel production

Abundant of aluminum beverage cans are normally discarded after use have caused considerable land pollution and environmental problems. This research is therefore aimed to synthesize alumina from aluminum can waste which is one of the most common kind of waste. The objective of this research is to synthesize and characterize alumina produced from aluminum can waste, and to be applied as catalyst support in the biodiesel production. In this study, the alumina from aluminum can waste was produced via Sol-gel method by varying the aging time. Characterization of alumina was performed by using FTIR, XRD, BET, and SEM-EDX. The synthesized alumina was used as catalyst support for potassium nitrate catalyst to be applied in biodiesel production by using transesterification reaction of cooking oil. The biodiesel produced was analyzed by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) and FTIR. The experimental results revealed that the alumina powder synthesized at room temperature have high surface area which are suitable to be used as catalyst support of producing biodiesel. In conclusion, it has been demonstrated that it is possible to produce alumina from aluminum can waste that can be used as catalyst support for biodiesel production. From the GCMS and FTIR results, it was proven that biodiesel is produced

Elucidating the effects of reaction time on the physicochemical characterization of valorized synthesized alumina

Aluminum waste-can management in Malaysia has recently become a serious environmental and public health issue, particularly in metropolitan areas. This has prompted the need to valorize these waste-cans into value-added products using the most economical and environmentally friendly techniques. In this study, the sol–gel technique was used to synthesize high-quality alumina from the aluminum waste-cans collected. From this method, the observed peaks of the synthesized alumina were identified as diaspore (α-AlO(OH)), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), aluminum oxide, or gamma-alumina (γ-Al2O3 ) crystalline structure and corundum. The morphological configuration, microstructure, and functional group properties of the synthesized alumina were evaluated. All the synthesized alumina exhibited a non-spherical shape and appeared to have hexagonal-like shape particles. Moreover, the XRD patterns of the synthesized alumina AL-6-30 and AL-12-30 exhibited a small angle (1–10◦ ) with no XRD peak, which indicated a mesoporous pore structure with no long-range order. The overall results of γ-alumina synthesized from the aluminum waste-cans showed an optimal condition in producing a highly structured γ-alumina with excellent surface-area characteristics. The synthesized alumina exhibited stronger and highly crystalline functional characteristics almost comparable with the commercially available brands on the market