Synthesis and acidity study of Na-ZSM-5 zeolite

Zeolites are a special class of structured aluminosilicates with a developed inner surface and a large number of micropores, which allows them to be used as sorbents, membrane materials, and catalysts. Zeolite ZSM-5 is an aluminosilicate formed by parallel channels with a diameter of 5.3-5.6Å interconnected by sinusoidal channels with a diameter of 5.1-5.5Å. At the same time, the presence of aluminum atoms in the zeolite crystal lattice makes it possible to carry out dehydrogenation, esterification, isomerization, and aromatization reactions, and the presence of microchannels significantly increases the number of collisions of reacting compounds, which leads to a significant increase in the rate of chemical transformations in such systems. The synthesis of ZSM-5 zeolite using structure-directing agents has been known since the late 70s of the last centuries, while the high cost of structure-directing agents used and the long duration of hydrothermal synthesis and the need for subsequent post-synthetic procedures lead to a high cost of the resulting zeolite. One of the possible ways to reduce the cost of the synthesis of ZSM-5 zeolite is the direct use of ZSM-5 zeolite as a structure-forming agent, while the synthesis conditions play a decisive role in the structure of the resulting zeolite. The article presents the results of a study of the synthesis of ZSM-5 zeolite and a study of its acidic properties using locally produced reagents. Zeolite was prepared using pre-milled silica gel, sodium hydroxide, and sodium aluminate. The pre-weighed silica gel sample was filled with sodium hydroxide solution and stirred at 70 °C to form a colloidal solution, after which the pre-prepared sodium aluminate solution was added, and hydrothermal synthesis was carried out at 180 °C for 24 hours. During the synthesis, the Si/Al ratio was varied in the range from 7.5 to 2000, while the resulting acidity ranged from 0.002 to 0.265 mmol(NH3)/g(ZSM-5). It was found that the synthesis of ZSM-5 using pre-prepared reagent solutions is superior to the method using direct dissolution of solid reagents in an autoclave. An increase in the Si/Al ratio from 7.5 to 100 leads to a corresponding increase in surface acidity from 0.066 mmol(NH3)/g(ZSM-5) to 0.265 mmol(NH3)/g(ZSM-5). A further increase in the Si/Al ratio to 2000 leads to a decrease in surface acidity to 0.002-0.005 mmol(NH3)/g(ZSM-5). A reliable and simple method for the synthesis of ZSM-5 zeolite has been developed, providing a zeolite yield of up to 97%.