Process for producing inorganic particulate material

A process for producing inorganic particulate material mainly composed of silicon oxide, wherein the particulate material comprises mesopores and macropores and the process includes the steps of:

• (a) dissolving a water-soluble polymer or another pore forming agent and a precursor for a matrix dissolving agent in a medium that promotes the hydrolysis of a metalorganic compound;
• (b) mixing a metalorganic compound or a mixture of metalorganic compounds which contains hydrolyzable ligands to promote a hydrolysis reaction;
• (c) solidifying the mixture through a sol-gel transition, wherein a gel is prepared which has three dimensional interconnected phase domains, one rich in solvent and the other rich in inorganic component, in which surface pores are contained;
• (d) disintegrating the gel into particles 15 to 120 minutes after the phase separation of step (c), wherein a uniform particle size distribution is determined by controlling the time from phase separation to disintegration, resulting in particles having a mean diameter from 1 μm to about 2000 μm;
• (e) setting the matrix dissolving agent free from its precursor, wherein the matrix dissolving agent modifies the structure of said inorganic component;
• and
• (f) removing the solvent by evaporation drying and/or heat-treatment.