Influence of the Calcination Temperature on the properties of The Alumina as Catalyst Support for Catalysis

Alumina is commonly used in industrial practice as a catalyst support and it is made from boehmite. Depending on the calcination temperature, this mineral is transformed into various crystalline modifications which have different physical and chemical properties. For this reason, the following parameters were determined at different calcination temperatures: length, width, material hardness, specific surface area and total pore volume. The results show that with increasing calcination temperature there have been significant changes which may be important when using the material as a catalyst support, e.g. in the preparation of catalysts or in the design of cat-alytic reactors. The specific surface area, which decreases in the temperature range 450–800 °C, is an important parameter for the preparation of catalysts, so it is appropriate to choose a temperature of 600 °C, when the specific surface area is above 200 m2·g-1. The effect of calcination temperature on the structural transitions of boehmite was also monitored. The results showed that γ-Al2O3 has the most suitable properties as a catalyst sup-port in the temperature range 450–800 °C.