Aluminium formate explained

Aluminium formate is the aluminium salt of formic acid, with the chemical formula Al(HCOO)₃. It can be produced via the reaction of aluminium soaps and formic acid.^[1] Reaction between formic acid and aluminium hydroxide yields Al(HCOO)₃(CO₂)_0.75(H₂O)_0.25(HCOOH)_0.25. Upon activation at 180 °C, guest molecules are removed to obtain Al(HCOO)₃.^[2]

Further reading

• Hannelore. Rauh. Wilhelm Knoche. A kinetic study of the formation of aluminium formate in aqueous solution. Berichte der Bunsengesellschaft für physikalische Chemie. 2010-06-10. 83. 5. 518–521. 10.1002/bbpc.19790830513.
• 10.1016/j.jes.2018.02.013. 30340679. Aluminium formate (AF): Synthesis, characterization and application in dye wastewater treatment. Journal of Environmental Sciences. 74. 95–106. 2018. Xue. Moxi. Gao. Baoyu. Li. Ruihua. Sun. Jianzhang. 53010618.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Oskar. Jochem. ALUMINIUM FORMATE AND PROCESS OF MAKING THE SAME. United States Patent Office. 2012-06-29.
2. Evans H A, Mullangi D, Deng Z, et al. Aluminium formate, Al(HCOO)₃: An earth-abundant, scalable, and highly selective material for CO₂ capture. Science Advances, 2022, 8(44): eade1473.