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Improved kernel of nitrogen isotherms for γ-alumina characterization

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Abstract

We present a new kernel of N2 isotherms in γ-alumina, the metastable phase of α-alumina, most used in industrial applications. The dedicated kernel proposal, existing in the literature, uses cylindrical pores, as well as approximate kernels of commercial adsorption characterization equipment. TEM morphology studies of γ-alumina have shown that the material has slit-like pores rather than cylindrical pores. Thus, our kernel is based on a slit pore collection of N2 isotherms at 77 K with 10 different pores sizes, dedicated to the characterization of the micropore range. The isotherms were calculated by applying the Monte Carlo method in the grand canonical ensemble. The solid–fluid interaction parameters were validated in an α-alumina surface. The agreement between experimental and simulated isotherms, using our kernel, is superior to that obtained with cylindrical pores, confirming the experimental evidence on the nature of γ-alumina morphology. Two γ-alumina samples are investigated and we observe that 12 to 22% of the total volume consists of micropores that are not adequately characterized with approximate cylindrical kernels. We also propose an alternative approach to match the different PSDs obtained, based on hybrid kernels methodology of hierarchical adsorbents materials characterization.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge financial support for this study from PNPD/CAPES (88882.463158/2019-01) and the use of the computer cluster at National Laboratory of Scientific Computing (LNCC/MCTI, Brazil).

Funding

The authors wish to acknowledge financial support for this study from PNPD/CAPES (88882.463158/2019–01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Modeling and 3D Visualization, Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Campus do Pici, Bl 709, Fortaleza, CE, 60455-760, Brazil

    Daniel V. Gonçalves, Danielle L. Montenegro, José C. A. Oliveira & Sebastião M. P. Lucena

  2. Laboratory of Adsorption and CO2 Capture, Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Campus do Pici, Bl 709, Fortaleza, CE, 60455-760, Brazil

    Moises Bastos-Neto

  3. Institute of Chemistry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, 59078-970, Brazil

    Danielle L. Montenegro & Djalma R. da Silva

  4. Laboratorio de Sólidos Porosos, Instituto de Física Aplicada, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de San Luis, 917, 5700, Chacabuco, San Luis, Argentina

    Jhonny Villarroel-Rocha & Karim Sapag

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  1. Daniel V. Gonçalves
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Contributions

All authors assisted in the development and writing of the paper. DG, DM and SL: wrote the main manuscript text. DG, DM, JO and SL: were involved in conceptualization, methodology and doing simulations. MB-N, JV-R and KS: performed experiments. D.S. worked on reviewing and editing the manuscript. All authors reviewed the entire manuscript.

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Correspondence to Daniel V. Gonçalves.

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Gonçalves, D.V., Montenegro, D.L., Oliveira, J.C.A. et al. Improved kernel of nitrogen isotherms for γ-alumina characterization. Adsorption 29, 377–386 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-023-00409-8

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