with water in a volume ratio of 1 1 the water addition was adjusted in the present example in such a way that a suspension paste with a solids content of 68 was present after the mixing of the alumina and the liquefying agent before the preparation of the paste the alumina was disagglomerated i e decomposed into primary crystals in the well known manner in a mill a ball mill in this case about 2 hours were required for this the preparation of the paste can take place in a mixing vat as well as in the mill the latter only under the condition that the mill temperature does not lie higher than 50 u00b0 c i e that the temperature increase during the grinding process is low the weight of one liter of the paste prepared was 1 95 0 05 kg l the processing of the paste to form a dry product formation of granulates was carried out in a spray dryer from the dorst maschinen und anlagenbau gmbh amp co the air temperature at the inlet nozzle was 350 u00b0 c and that at the outlet of the dryer was about 80 u00b0 c a spray granulate with a residual moisture content of 0 5 0 1 and a bulk density of 1 20 0.