Activated alumina is manufactured from aluminium hydroxide by dehydroxylating it in a way that produces a highly porous material; this material can have a surface area significantly over 200 square metres/g. The compound of activated alumina is used as a desiccant (to keep things dry by absorbing water from the air) and as a filter of fluoride, arsenic and selenium in drinking water. It is made of aluminium oxide (alumina; Al2O3), the same chemical substance as sapphire and ruby (but without the impurities that give those gems their color). It has a very high surface-area-to-weight ratio, due to the many "tunnel like" pores that it has.
