Aluminium carbonate

Aluminium carbonate (Al2(CO3)3), is a carbonate of aluminium. It is not well characterized; one authority says that simple carbonates of aluminium are not known. However related compounds are known, such as the basic sodium aluminium carbonate mineral dawsonite (NaAlCO3(OH)2) and hydrated basic aluminium carbonate minerals scarbroite (Al5(CO3)(OH)13•5(H2O)) and hydroscarbroite (Al14(CO3)3(OH)36•nH2O).

Preparation
For many years there was no evidence for the existence of any carbonate-containing ternary Al-C-O phase, i.e., Al2(CO3)3, however in 2023 Al2[CO3]3 and Al2[C2O5][CO3]2 (dialuminium carbonate pyrocarbonate) were produced with a carbon dioxide pressure of 24 and 38 GPa. This means that the Earth's mantle may contain aluminium carbonate minerals.

Some minerals contain both aluminium and carbonate. Dawsonite has the formula NaAlCO3(OH)2. Hydrotalcites, both synthetic and natural, are layered metal hydroxides comprised in part of aluminium and carbonate.

Surface carbonate species readily form upon exposure of aluminium oxide to.

Uses
Aluminium carbonate, along with aluminium hydroxide and aluminium oxide, is a phosphate-binding drug that is sometimes administered to dogs and cats to bind intestinal phosphate and prevent the absorption of dietary phosphate as well as to decrease absorption of phosphate excreted by the pancreas. It is seldom used in humans because of concerns with toxicity, but cats and dogs do not appear to have a toxic response to its presence.

The reaction of aluminium sulfate and sodium bicarbonate forms carbon dioxide and aluminium hydroxide which stabilises the formation of a foam. This reaction was the basis of an early fire extinguisher invented by Aleksandr Loran in 1904.