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Multitechnique characterization of dealuminated mordenites

Journal Article · · J. Catal.; (United States)

Mordenite zeolites were altered both physically and catalytically by dry thermal treatments, acid leaching at mild temperatures, sequential thermal/acid treatments, and hydrothermal steaming. Good agreement was demonstrated between four diverse analytical procedures, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), /sup 29/Si and /sup 27/Al nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and NH/sub 3/ temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and the extent of dealumination. Both XRD and NMR showed that dry heat treatments alone expelled as much as 70% of the aluminum from the framework of the fresh mordenite, but XPS showed no change in the surface aluminum concentration. Strong zeolite acidity as measured by TPD of NH/sub 3/ above 290/sup 0/C was nearly completely destroyed or made inaccessible by dry thermal treatment. This acidity was restored by acid leaching which removed the detrital aluminum, making the remaining tetrahedral aluminum sites accessible to NH/sub 3/. Roughly 40% of the remaining tetrahedral aluminum is lost from the structure upon steaming at 500/sup 0/C for 70 h. Here, XPS detects modest increases in surface aluminum concentration which were not observed for the heat-treated samples. This shows that steam is required for expelled aluminum to migrate to the zeolite surface. Acid dealumination of these mordenites was shown by N/sub 2/ adsorption to develop maximum micropore volume and to minimize external zeolite surface area. The changes observed do not fully explain the aging characteristics during methanol conversion exhibited by deeply dealuminated mordenites; however, changes in catalyst selectivity toward higher-molecular-weight products can be explained by increases in the micropore volume following acid dealumination.

Research Organization:
Amoco Research Center, Naperville, IL (USA)
OSTI ID:
5287084
Journal Information:
J. Catal.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Catal.; (United States) Vol. 110:1; ISSN JCTLA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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