ALUMINUM CITRATE

Description

Aluminum citrate is a chemical compound formed by the reaction between aluminum salt and citric acid.

Synthesis

Aluminum citrate can be manufactured with aluminum chloride and citric acid as the starting materials. The pH of the mixture can be adjusted with either ammonium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide to obtain aluminum citrate^.1,2

Application

Aluminum citrate solutions can be used for crosslinking polymers such as carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) or partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide. This crosslinking with aluminum citrate is applied in enhanced oil recovery processes. The in situ gelling of the polymers results in blocking of highly permeable zones, providing the possibility to recover oils which otherwise could not be recovered by conventional methods.³ Crosslinked polymeric materials by aluminum citrate are used in subterranean formations to reduce the permeability of the formations to water.1 Aluminum citrate has been used as precursor to synthesize aluminum nitride.⁴ Aluminum citrate has been used in cosmetic products with anti-perspiration effect.⁵

Toxicological studies

Aluminum is established as neurotoxicant. The uptake of aluminum in the form of aluminum citrate is 50 times than that in aluminum hydroxide form.⁶

Reference

1. Julie E. Smith, Aluminum citrate preparations and methods, Patent US5559263A
2. Philip W. Staal, Method for the preparation of liquid aluminum citrate, Patent US4447364A
3. Lawrence M. Fodor, R. Lynn Cobb, Aluminum citrate solution, Patent US4601340A
4. L. Weng, D. Huang, X. Jiang, Synthesis of aluminum nitride from aluminum citrate precursor, Materials Letters, 1993, vol. 18, pp. 159-162
5. www.bfr.bund.de
6. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminiumcitrat#cite_note-DOI10.1007/BF00817919-10

Chemical Properties

white powder(s) or scales; study of complex formation in [LOP84] [MER06]