Effect of activated carbon doping on structure and property of porous alumina support

Disk porous alumina supports were fabricated by dry-pressing method using α-Al ₂O ₃ powder (with average particle size of 4 μm) as raw materials, together with activated carbon as pore-forming agent. Effect of activated carbon doping on structures and properties of porous alumina support was investigated. The oxidation reaction of activated carbon during high temperature sintering process could greatly increase the porosity and, hence, resulted in high permeability of porous alumina support. The porosity, average pore size, three point bending strength and pure water flux of the alumina support with 17% (mass fraction) activated carbon dopant sintered at 1450°C were 45.8%, 2.1 μm, 44.6 MPa and 88 m ³/(m ²·h·MPa), respectively. The three point bending strength of the support remained at 23.4 MPa even after immersed in 10% NaOH (80°C) for 20 d, indicating a comparatively good corrosion resistance to alkali solutions.