Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

12-2021

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M. Eng.

Department

Chemical Engineering

Committee Chair

Gupta, Gautam

Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)

Ghorbanian, Mahyar

Committee Member

Ghasemi-Fare, Omid

Author's Keywords

Nanomaterials; Alumina; materials

Abstract

To satisfy an increasing demand for large-scale processes for producing alumina nanomaterials, a wet chemical method was evaluated. A potassium salt precursor was combined with aluminum to produce alumina – based nanowires. Compared with current methods such as thermal oxidation, sol-gel, and laser ablation, this method is highly scalable due to relatively low energy requirements and the ability to carry out the primary reaction under ambient conditions. The nanowire samples were evaluated using SEM, XRD, BET, and TEM to confirm morphology, phases present, and surface area. A porous nanowire structure was confirmed which has a BET surface area of 324.6 . The alumina consisted primarily of the phase with some α phase present as well. Proof – of – concept water treatment testing was conducted using the prepared nanowires to evaluate the potential for use as a heavy metal adsorbent in industrial wastewater streams. The nanowires were able to remove 88% of hexavalent chromium and 84% of hexavalent selenium from mock solutions in 24 hours under acidic conditions. The used nanowire sorbent material was recovered and annealed, forming a solid chromium – alumina solution. This demonstrates potential for follow – on applications in catalysis and could provide additional cost benefit to industry.

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