2 LBS Activated Alumina Desiccant, High-Efficiency 3D Printer Desiccant for Filament Drying, Activated Alumina Moisture Absorber for Storage & Dehumidifiers

Bought these to keep 3d printer filaments dry. Place these in meshed container (a stainless steel tea leave 'soaker'?). Were packaged really well in a nozzled dispensor. As these are silica they should make a great liquid fuel stove, for example, soak these beads in alcohol and the large surface area of these beads should generate efficient combustion.

A great price on activated alumina. 5 lbs for $27.00 I have been paying almost $30.00 for a 2 lbs bottle of Slice brand. This stuff is so much better than silica desiccant; absorbs more moisture and therefore last much longer in filament dry boxes, and it can be easily recharged in the oven.

This stuff works great. I pour it into my little containers over a plastic tray so that anything that overflows can be easily poured back into the main bag. It comes in little spherical beads that will roll all over the floor and is tough to sweep up. Humidity control is excellent. It is a good value for the money.

Works well to bring down the humidity in my filament containers. It last a long time between drying needs, but it's more difficult to dry. It needs a higher temperature and longer drying time.

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I have spent a lot of time and money testing different desiccants for my 3D printer filament moisture management, and this is fantastic if compared to Silica Gel Beads. If you are happy maintaining a less than 20% RH (relative humidity) storage Activated Alumina Desiccant can do it while saturated to less than 10% weight by volume. If you are in a high humidity area Activated Alumina might saturate with even more moisture than 3A Zeolite. I was able to reactivate a 450-gram sample that had adsorbed 51 grams of water ~11% weight down to 462 grams or ~2.7% weight in a 700-watt microwave in 20 minutes at 50% power. This is great stuff. That said, I was tremendously more pleased with the water adsorption properties of 3A Zeolite at RH levels below 20% and even more so below 10% RH. Recharging Zeolite in my microwave was also easier. Would I prefer Activated Alumina Desiccant over Silica Gel Beads in nearly every conceivable situation? Absolutely. Would I prefer Activated Alumina Desiccant over 3A Zeolite in any conceivable situation? Almost never but yes for some situations. I am not returning this product because it probably does what it claims to do, I have opened it, and I can give it away to people still using Silica Gel Beads and too poor to buy anything better. The price of Activated Alumina Desiccant as compared to 3A Zeolite at the time of this review was about 14% lower by weight and about 400% higher by functionality. These beads are known to be more durable than Zeolite and the beads are larger which may be easier to manage for some users. They are not color indicating so use a humidity gauge.

Using these for my 3D printing and they have been great. Being in a humid environment traditional Silica Gel just degrades too fast and I need to recharge on a weekly basis. These I've had for a month and I haven't had to recharge them at all. The pellet size is excellent as it allows to use in containers with high air flow and gives you a lot of options. Additionally, they are very absorbent keeping moisture in check for far longer than the alternatives. The packaging makes it easy to use as the spout allows for more of a controlled pour in to other containers.

This product has an average cost-performance ratio and its moisture-proof effect is not strong. After using it for a few days, I felt that it didn't work as expected.

Very effective way to keep RH levels way below 10%. Long term vialibilty remains to be seen.