Adsorbents

BASF offers the widest portfolio of adsorbent technologies for a broad spectrum of applications in industries such as refining, petrochemical, chemical, and gas processing.

The BASF portfolio includes proprietary alumina, silica, alumino-silica gels and a broad line of base metal oxide guard bed materials, including the PuriStar family.

We make adsorbents differently

Adsorption is the accumulation of atoms or molecules on the surface of a material. This process creates a film of the adsorbate on the adsorbent's surface. It is different from absorption, in which a substance diffuses into a liquid or solid to form a solution. The term sorption encompasses both processes, while desorption is the reverse process.

Adsorbents are used usually in the form of spherical pellets, rods, moldings, or monoliths with hydrodynamic diameters between 0.5 and 10 mm. They must have high abrasion resistance, high thermal stability and small pore diameters, which results in higher exposed surface area and hence high surface capacity for adsorption. The adsorbents must also have a distinct pore structure which enables fast transport of targeted molecules.

At BASF, we make adsorbents differently. The difference comes from not only making our adsorbents differently, it comes from thinking differently.

BASF has led the way in helping businesses and institutions across industries meet and exceed stringent moisture control standards with a variety of superior and unique alumina, desiccant and adsorbent technologies that underscore BASF’s reputation for delivering ingenious answers to tough business challenges. We make adsorbents differently and it is this distinction that sets us apart and has customers seeking us out in the marketplace for their moisture control and purification requirements.

Not your traditional silica gel…Sorbead^® Adsorbents: 

Traditional silica gel products are produced by acidifying sodium silicate, or “water glass” and then water washing the precipitate, followed by dehydration. The bead produced by BASF is produced by a proprietary oil-drop sol-gel process. The sol is created when colloidal Al/Si particles are dropped into an oil column. This process is unique to BASF. The decrease in the amount of moisture present in the original bead allows for greater pore size control and hydrothermal stability. In addition, Sorbead^® is manufactured using aluminum and silica-containing components. This allows for fine control of the chemical composition of the beads and further underscores the difference in the resulting bead product. Sorbead^® adsorbents are made from beginning to end differently than other adsorbents anywhere else in the world.

Not just to be different … proprietary ball forming manufacturing process The process used to produce the activated alumina F-200 series and the Selexsorb^® adsorbent products is proprietary and produces unique spheres with the: