Herein, we designed a cost-effective preparation method of nanocomposite γ-Al2O3 derived from Al-waste. The produced material has a feather-like morphology, and its adsorption of some chlorinated volatile organic compounds (Cl-VOC's) such as benzyl chloride, chloroform and carbon tetrachloride (C7H7Cl, CHCl3 and CCl4) was investigated due to their potential carcinogenic effect on humans. It showed a characteristic efficiency towards the adsorptive removal of these compounds over a long period, i.e., eight continuous weeks, at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure. After 8-weeks, the adsorbed amounts of these compounds were determined as: 325.3 mg C7H7Cl, 247.6 mg CHCl3 and 253.3 mg CCl4 per g of γ-Al2O3, respectively. CCl4 was also found to be dissociatively adsorbed on the surface of γ-Al2O3, whereas CHCl3 and C7H7Cl were found to be associatively adsorbed. The prepared γ-Al2O3 has a relatively high surface area (i.e., 192.2 m2. g-1) and mesoporosity with different pore diameters in the range of 25-47 Å. Furthermore, environmental impacts of the nanocomposite γ-Al2O3 preparation were evaluated using life cycle assessment. For prepartion of adsorbent utilising 1 kg of scrap aluminium wire, it was observed that potential energy demand was 288 MJ, climate change potential was 19 kg CO2 equivalent, acidification potential was 0.115 kg SO2 equivalent and eutrophication potential was 0.018 kg PO43- equivalent.
Keywords: Adsorption; Circular economy; Life cycle assessment; Temperature programmed desorption; Volatile organic compounds; γ-Al(2)O(3).
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