Preparation of Low Cost, High Surface Area of Active MgO via the Sol-Gel Based Aerosol Process

With the development of advanced technologies (including military weapons), more and more chemicals are employed, subsequently, more hazardous chemicals and chemical agents are generated (e.g.millions of pounds of military chemical wastes per year in USA). Some of these chemicals related to military chemical wastes are phosphorus-based chemicals, chlorocarbons, and stimulants. At present, these chemicals are treated by incineration at high temperature. In the past, it is found that certain ultrafine (nanoscale), highly reactive metal oxide (e.g. CaO and MgO) could absorb these toxic chemicals and allow for reclamation of valuable byproducts as fuels or feedstock. This technique is named as Destructive Absorption Technology (DAT). In the proposed research, we will develop a low cost fabrication process for high surface area MgO powders. The process proposed is the sol-gel based aerosol process in which the sol-gel solution reaction will be tailored to produce sparse clusters, and then the solutions will be used as the precursors for the aerosol process to produce high surface area MgO powders. The powders will be tested for their destructive capacity using stimulants and chlorinated solvents as substrates, and the results will be correlated with the surface area and surface chemistry.