Novel ZnO-Al2O3 composite particles as sorbent for low temperature H2S removal

Abstract

ZnO-Al2O3 composite particles composed of ZnO nanosheets (thickness of 40-80 nm) on alumina particles were prepared by heterogeneous precipitation method using bayerite seed particles. The as-prepared composite particles were characterized in terms of crystal structure, morphology, surface area and pore volume. The composite particles were used as sorbent for H2S adsorption at low temperature, and were compared with pure ZnO sorbent. The composite sorbent showed a greater sulfur adsorption capacity (0.052 g/g) than pure form of ZnO (0.028 g/g). This significant improvement was mainly attributed to higher surface area, more pore volume and unique morphology in nanoscale, which were also obtained by low cost presented method in this work for synthesis of ZnO sorbent supported on alumina particles. © 2013 Hamid Tajizadegan.