Combined effect of amino and carboxyl group in α-alanine on seeded precipitation of sodium aluminate solution

α-alanine was adopted as a new additive to elucidate the seeded precipitation mechanism of sodium aluminate solution. α-alanine has the inhibitory effect at the initial period of reaction, but the favorable effect in subsequent reaction. The combined effect of amino and carboxyl group in α-alanine was confirmed by investigating the effect of propionic acid, ethamine and the mixture of propionic acid and ethamine (mole ratio 1:1) on the precipitation of sodium aluminate solution, respectively. The inhibitory effect derives from the adsorption of amino or carboxyl group in α-alanine on the active surface sites of gibbsite, which was confirmed by the alleviating inhibitory effects of propionic acid, ethamine and α-alanine due to the double crystal seed mass. The semi-quantitative IR spectrum analysis of the relative concentrations of Al2O(OH)62– with the band at about 550 cm−1 and polynuclear aluminate ion with the bands at about 880 cm−1 and 635 cm−1, indicates that the dynamic balance among some aluminate species present in sodium aluminate solution is broken due to the addition of α-alanine, thus resulting in the change of the seeded precipitation ratio of sodium aluminate solution.