Sol-gel synthesis and spray granulation of porous titania powder

Bimodally porous titania powders with controlled phase composition and porosity made by wet chemical processes have been extensively investigated in our laboratory. This paper reviews experimental parameters affecting the phase and pore structure of these powders. Also, the effect of solution peptization on packing and coordination of particles is discussed. The unpeptized slurry and peptized sol were spray dried to make granules with controlled porosity and morphology, The properties of the product granules were dependent on the feed solution properties. In particular, granules from unpeptized slurry showed bimodal pore size distribution with rough surface attributed to hard aggregates, Granules from the peptized sol showed monomodal pore size distribution with smooth surface of well-packed microstructures. Potential applications of these granules include adsorbents, catalyst carriers and packing for chromatographic columns.