Large Pore Alumina

Earlier the authors reported preparation conditions for an alumina material which contained large diameter macropores (0.1-100 [mu]). The preparation variable that caused the formation of the uncommonly large macropores was the large acid/alumina ratios which were very much greater than the ones used in the preparation of conventional porous aluminas. The alumina material had large BET surface areas (200 m[sup 2]/g) and small mercury porosimetry surface areas (1 m[sup 2]/g). This indicated that micropores (d[sub MIP]<2 nm) were present in the alumina, since they were large enough for nitrogen gas molecules to enter, but too small for mercury to enter. As a result they would be too small for significant diffusion rates of residuum molecules. In earlier work, the calcining temperature was fixed at 500[degrees]C. In the current work, variations in both calcining temperature and calcining time were used in an attempt to convert some of the micropores into mesopores. 12 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.