Silica Gel and Activated Alumina

Silica gel is very familiar to us. In our daily life, silica gel has a good role. To absorb excess moisture from the surroundings, silica gel can be used because of its amorphous nature. It is desiccant. It is an inactive substance. it will not have any action with other chemicals or substances.

Activated Alumina

For industrial purposes, silica gel is widely using. The ability to absorb moisture is making silica gel favorable to many industries. Many manufacturing companies are using silica gel to keep their item for a long time without any damages. For example inside the laptop, we can see small sachets of silica gel. This is to keep electronic items away from moisture damages.

Like silica gel activated alumina is also a porous substance. However, we are not much familiar with it like silica gel. For water treatment activated alumina can be used as a point-of-entry or point-of-use. Instead of filtering them, activated alumina absorbs contaminants. The effectiveness of this activated alumina process depends on the characteristics of the contaminant and alumina, the device design, and water quality.

For source water with a high total dissolved solids level or sulfate concentration, activated alumina can be an effective treatment method. However, activated alumina has a serious drawback to use. It is that regenerating it requires the use of strong acid and base solutions. Therefore storing and handling it inside the home is not a good option.

Activated alumina devices using for water treatment have a packed bed of activated alumina granules. When water passes through this device, contaminants are adsorbed to the activated alumina granules. But not all, certain contaminants only based on characters.

The effectiveness of this activated alumina device depends on the chemical form of the contaminant to be removed. For example, under certain conditions chlorinating the water will convert arsenic into the form most likely to be adsorbed by activated alumina if it is before activated alumina treatment.