Activated Alumina: Best Air Drying Desiccant

Understanding Activated Alumina Adsorbent

One of the most commonly used adsorbents, Activated Alumina is known for its numerous pores and large surface area. Both these features help the adsorbent take in more moisture molecules over a larger area. Another highlight of Activated Alumina as a desiccant is that it can take in all the liquids and gases without undergoing any kind of physical as well as chemical transformation. Activated Alumina functions by the means of a process known as adsorption. This desiccant is mainly used for drying air. The presence of humidity molecules in the air can prove to be quite harmful as it can lead to problems like ice formation, corrosion in the machines. Thus, it becomes highly important to remove moisture molecules from air for the smooth functioning of equipment. also Check our Latest article here:Oxygen Absorbers | Food Storage | O-Buster Suppliers

The functioning of the Activated Alumina adsorbent is very simple. The air, which is meant to be dehumidified, is passed through the Activated Alumina. As it passes through all the moisture present in the air will stick to the Alumina and only the dried air will pass forward. The vapor molecules in the air are trapped in the Activated Alumina desiccant. Thus, with the help of the alumina adsorbent, the air is completely dried.

Activated Alumina in Air drying

Sometimes it becomes important that all the moisture present is removed from the air being circulated. If compressed air having a pressure dew point of around -40 °C / -40 F or lesser is what is needed, then one should opt for a heat less adsorption dryer, which is both energy as well as cost effective. These heats less adsorption dryers carry out their work with the help of desiccant material like Activated Alumina or Molecular Sieve. These two desiccants are best suited to remove all traces of moisture from the compressed air.

The functioning of the heat less adsorption dryer is explained as follows:- The dryer consists of two identical adsorption towers filled with equal amounts of either Activated Alumina or Molecular Sieve. There is no hard-and-fast rule that only one type of desiccant can be used. Either of the two can be used as both are equally effective.

As the drying process begins, the compressed air moves from the bottom to the top of the tower and as it passes through the Activated Alumina desiccant, all the moisture present is readily absorbed. As the moisture intake takes place, the desiccant bed will start to get heavy and eventually become saturated. When the desiccant in the first tower is completely saturated, it automatically shuts down.

The next step is to remove the saturated desiccant from the first tower. The desiccant is purged by passing dry compressed air from the top of the tower to the bottom and for it to come in contact with the ejected moisture molecules.

So while all this is happening in the first tower, what is going on in the second tower, you may ask? During the time period when the desiccant in the first tower is being regenerated, the second tower is functioning as normal. This is in order to ensure that there is a continuous flow of dried air in the system.

While the desiccant bed of one tower will be regenerated, the other tower will be in production in order to guarantee a continuous flow of dried air. The ever flowing stream of dried compressed air is an indication that both the towers filled with Activated Alumina desiccant are functioning smoothly. 

There are many factors influencing how the adsorption dryers perform. These include the temperature of the dryers, their operating pressure as well as flow. If the operating temperatures are raised beyond a certain point, it will drastically affect the production process.

Alumina Balls For Water Defluoridation Process

About Activated Alumina Balls:

The activated alumina is used in a large number in many industries. Aside from purifying and absorbing moisture, the activated alumina is also used for dehydrating several ingredients and packaged items. It has the capacity to get separated from several liquids and gases in a convenient manner. The various features of activated air drying alumina can be easily made into use in several big industries. The pore size is big as compared with other well-known desiccants. This is the reason why zeolites have been substituted in several applications which help in removing moisture as far as a specific environment is concerned. The compound is used as a desiccant with the aim to keep things dry by way of absorbing water from the air and to make in use as a filter of fluoride, arsenic and selenium in drinking water.

F200 Activated Alumina:

Activated alumina F200 is usually a sphere of alumina which is used for creating an innovative manufacturing process. It is an excellent adsorbent and desiccant used for drying up an array of gases and liquids. This property of alumina is useful in dehydrating high pressure gas where a minimum amount of pressure drop turns out to be crucial. Air drying activated alumina is well suited for removing acid, in the purification of steam process and in absorbing and drying hydrocarbon.

In many instances, it has been observed that two kinds of alumina are used for the purification of liquid such as F200 and AD101. You can easily make use any one of these tools to dehydrated gases such as gasoline, propylene and LPG. One can easily come to conclusion that if the air drying activated alumina is used efficiently, it can help businesses owners gain the trust of their customers by keeping their orders secured during the transition process.

De-Fluoridation Process:

Activated alumina is a highly porous substance which consists of aluminum hydrate. It is used as a commercial desiccant and in several processes of gas drying in a large number.

Water Purification Process Using Alumina Balls:

The ability of activated alumina is to exclude fluoride which depends on the aspects of the chemistry of water. Factors such as hardness, silica and boron, if present in water will affect the fluoride removal process and thereby, reduces the efficiency of the system. also read:  activated alumina water filter

Activated Alumina For Water Treatment Process:

Activated alumina devices are made up of a packed bed of activated alumina beads. Since water passes through the device, some contaminants are adsorbed to the granules of activated alumina. The effective use of "activated alumina water treatment " depends on the chemical form of contaminant which needs to be eliminated. For instance, under certain conditions where chlorinated water reaches beyond the treatment of activated alumina converts into arsenic form which then gets adsorbed by activated alumina. When it is untreated with water-contained suspended oils, the pre-treatment with five micron cartridge sediment filter is required to avert the hindrance of activated alumina bed.

Activated Alumina Helps in Effective Water Treatment

Activated Alumina – An Introduction

Activated Alumina is a widely used form of desiccant, mainly employed for the purification and treatment of water made available to businesses and households by municipal corporations. Activated Alumina has two main highlights- it is a very porous material and has a large surface area. This helps the Activated Alumina to absorb more moisture/impurities over a vast area. Along with its use as a popular desiccant, Activated Alumina is also widely used to remove impurities and harmful substances like fluoride, arsenic and selenium from the water being used by households. Activated Alumina is manufactured by dehydroxylating aluminium hydroxide till a highly porous material is obtained.

Role of Activated Alumina in Water Treatment

As mentioned earlier, one of the major uses of Activated Alumina is in the treatment of water being supplied to town and cities by their respective municipal corporations. Activated Alumina is mainly used to remove dangerous substances like fluoride, which is very harmful to the human body as it can cause fluorosis. When the water comes in contact with Activated Alumina, then the fluoride levels are seen to fall from 10.00 ppm to below 1.0 ppm. This is the correct level of fluoride recommended for water made available to households and businesses. 

Another advantage of using Activated Alumina is that it covers a large surface area. So when more water molecules are in contact with the Activated Alumina, more impurities will be removed from the water. Other factors needed for efficient water treatment include more activated alumina balls in the filter, lower water temperature and lower pH levels (i.e. the water should be more acidic). 

Regeneration of Activated Alumina

Another major advantage of using Activated Alumina is that it can easily be regenerated and thus proves to be quite cost-effective for municipal corporations around the world. Once the Activated Alumina has been used, it is regenerated with the help of a dilute caustic solution. This caustic solution removes all the absorbed fluoride and other impurities from the Activated Alumina filter and then it is all ready to be used once again. This regeneration quality saves a lot of time and money for municipal corporations as they can use the same Activated Alumina many times over.

F200 Activated Alumina- Best Adsorbent for Liquid, Gas Drying

What is F200 Activated Alumina?

Activated Alumina is a highly popular desiccant used for many purposes like waste water treatment,  drying of many liquids and natural gases. For efficient liquid and gas drying, most companies prefer using F200 Activated Alumina. This series of Activated Alumina desiccant has a smooth as well as large surface area and is thus the preferred choice of petroleum and natural gas companies. In the market, F200 Activated Alumina is available in standard sizes like 1/16", 1/8", 3/16" and 1/4" spheres.

While using F200 Activated Alumina for drying liquids and gases, only those molecules having the highest level of polarity are usually adsorbed. The performance of this grade of Activated Alumina also depends on many factors like pressure, concentration and weight of the molecules, temperature among others.

Benefits of Using F200 Activated Alumina

Mainly used in the drying of liquids and natural gases, there are many benefits of opting for F200 Activated Alumina. Scroll down to know what they are:

1)  Same-sized Alumina balls: One of the major benefits of using F200 Activated Alumina is that all the alumina balls are of the same size. This feature is helpful while drying high pressure gases where preventing a drop in pressure is very important. Uniformity of the alumina balls protects against desiccant separation while pneumatic loading. Same-sized Activated Alumina desiccant also reduces the chances of channeling the liquid and gas flows.

2)     Greater adsorption capacity: The major benefit of using F200 Activated Alumina desiccant is that it has a very large surface area and even pore distribution. Both these features make it an excellent adsorbent, thus helping in liquid and natural gas drying. F200 is also known to have very good cyclic stability that results in a longer shelf life.

3)     Low levels of abrasion: F200 Activated Alumina is known to have lesser levels of abrasion, while is helpful for transportation and loading/unloading purposes. The low levels of abrasion leads to lesser amounts of abrasion. Lower abrasion also results in drop in pressure and brings down instances of downstream valve and filter plugging.

4)   High crush strength: Activated Alumina F200 has high crush strength, which helps in the fast-paced loading of towers. Taller towers are also used thus resulting in maximum utilization of the desiccant. The high crush strength property also helps F200 Activated Alumina desiccant to attract water molecules from acid-containing gases and liquids.

The above-mentioned benefits are a clear indicator as to why F200 Activated Alumina is highly popular among petroleum and natural gas companies.

Activated Alumina For Purifying Natural Gases & Liquids

Introduction

The basic component of Activated Alumina is aluminium hydroxide. The high-capacity desiccant is manufactured by dehydroxylating aluminium hydroxide. At the end of the dehydroxylating process, we get a hard and durable material, which can be converted into any shape of our choice. The most commonly used shapes is balls and activated alumina balls serve as desiccants for water treatment and purification of natural gases and liquids. Activated Alumina is also manufactured in the form of beads and different cylindrical shapes.

Salient Features of Activated Alumina

Activated Alumina has many features, which make it a highly in-demand moisture absorber. Some of these features are discussed below:

1)   Non-reactive to water: A major benefit of using Active Alumina is that it does not react while coming in contact with water. There are no physical changes like shrinking, swelling or disintegration when the Activated Alumina balls/beads are placed in water. The high-capacity desiccant also does not offer any reaction to water slugging. 

2) Same-sized Activated Alumina beads: Another advantage of using Activated Alumina beads is that they are uniformly sized. This feature helps in keeping the pressure afloat and the complete use of the bed column section.

3) Lesser disintegration: Activated Alumina has lower disintegration/depreciation qualities, which produces lesser dust during depressurization/loading. This also reduces the chances of plugging the after-filter.   

Use of Activated Alumina in Purifying Natural Gases and Liquids

Activated Alumina has two main uses- water treatment and purification and drying of natural gases and liquids. Today we will explain in detail about how Activated Alumina finds the use of petroleum and natural gas industries. 

The Activated Alumina used for this purpose must have a surface area of 345-415 m2/g as this offers the highest water capacity. This Alumina is also used for thermal swing adsorption, oil filtration and drying of gases and liquids. 

In the petroleum industry, the main use of Activated Alumina is for the drying of organic liquids like Liquid Petroleum Gas or LPG, aromatic solvents, steam cracked liquids, gasolines, cholera and fluorocarbons. It is also used as an air drying desiccant, which is removing any traces of moisture from the gases. Gases like catalytic reforming recycle gas, synthesis gas, methyl chloride are also purified using Activated Alumina.  

Activated Alumina ball suppliers also provide the desiccant for the cleaning up of liquids. This consists of removal of metallic parts, BF3, TBC, HCI, HF and fluorinated hydrocarbons. Companies make use of Activated Alumina desiccant to gas dry air separation plants and gases like hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. 

Use Activated Alumina F200 to Purify Water

What is Activated Alumina?

Aluminium oxide is a widely used form of desiccant mainly employed in the purification of natural gas and liquids. Aluminium oxide is also used by municipal corporations in the cleansing of water meant for households. Activated alumina is a type of aluminium oxide, which is very much in use as it is extremely porous and has a high surface area. Activated Alumina desiccant has many properties, which make it extremely popular. These include extreme resistance to thermal shock and abrasion. Another positive point of using Activated Alumina is that when it is immersed in water, there are no physical changes to the desiccant. The Alumina does not shrink, swell up, soften  or disintegrate when it comes in contact with water.  

Activated Alumina Desiccant F200

Activated Alumina F200 is a highly porous form of aluminium oxide, which can absorb liquids and gases without bringing about any changes to its format. The desiccant F200 is very efficient and can be reused again and again. It is brought back to its original format by heating up to a temperature ranging from 350-600°F (In degree Celsius, it is 177-316°C).

Activated Alumina F200 has very much commercial importance as it is widely used for drying compressed air using pressure or the process of temperature swing adsorption. Another important characteristic of Activated Alumina F200 is its uniformly sized beads that help stop gas flow channelling and allows for nominal drop in pressure.   

Activated Alumina F200 for Water treatment 

The F200 version of Activated Alumina Desiccant finds great use in treatment of water used for household and industrial purposes. Activated Alumina F200 cleans up the water of impurities by the process of adsorption. Adsorption is defined as a process where the atoms and molecules of a gas, liquid or dissolved substance are adsorbed onto a solid surface. This adsorption process leads to the creation of a film of the adsorbate on the absorbent's surface. 

The process by which Activated Alumina F200 purifies the water is explained next. When the untreated water is passed through the desiccant, the water in the air will get stuck on the alumina and the air will move forward. This happens because the water molecules are bigger and cannot pass through the small pores of the Activated Alumina F200. The air molecules will pass through the pores as they are same size. The alumina can be regenerated by heating the desiccant, which lets go of all the water stored inside. 

Activated Alumina: Best Material Used As Water Filter

One of the major users of desiccants is the water purifiers we have at our home. These purifiers use the desiccant Activated Alumina to purify water for drinking purposes. The Activated Alumina uses the adsorption process for completing the task. Under this process, the water passing through sticks to the alumina in between the tiny pores while the air moves forward. As the water molecules cannot pass through, the air is completely dry as it crosses the filter. The huge surface-area-to-weight ratio of the Activated Alumina tremendous help with the water purification process. This ratio is high because of the “tunnel shaped” holes in the desiccant. 

Another important use of activated alumina adsorbent is in the removal of fluoride from drinking water. In many parts of the world, water is contaminated with fluoride, which can lead to fibrosis. So in these regions activated alumina water filters are installed to bring down the fluoride levels. The activated alumina adsorbent lowers the fluoride levels from 0.5 ppm to below 0.1 ppm. The longer the fluoride containing water is in contact with the alumina filter, the lesser amount of fluoride will be present in the final, filtered drinking water. The level of fluoride is indirectly proportional to the amount of activated alumina adsorbent in the filter. 

Once installed, the activated alumina water filter efficiently filters lower temperature water as well as lower pH water. Municipal corporations across the world also use activated alumina adsorbent to get rid of toxins like arsenic from water. 

What It Is Made From 

The activated alumina water filter is made from aluminum hydroxide. The latter is dehydroxylated in such a manner that it results in a highly porous matter, which has a surface area well over 200 m²/g.  Activated alumina has the same chemical composition as precious stones like sapphire and ruby i.e alumina Al2O3. 

Other Uses

Other than water filtration, Activated Alumina finds use in many adsorbent and catalyst operations like the adsorption of catalysts in polyethylene production and as a special adsorbent for chemicals like arsenic. It is also used to remove sulfur traces from gas streams.