Mesoporous Zeolitic Materials (MZMs) Derived From Zeolite Y Using a Microwave Method for Catalysis
Samer Abdulridha, Yilai Jiao, Shaojun Xu, Rongxin Zhang, Arthur Garforth, Xiaolei Fan
Abstract
Mesostructured zeolitic materials (MZMs) with the relatively high acidity (both Lewis and Brönested ones in comparison with the mesoporous siliceous MCM-41) were prepared via an efficient, mild and simple post-synthetic treatment (of Y zeolite) method facilitated by the microwave irradiation, i.e. microwave-assisted chelation (MWAC). The disordered mesoporous aluminosilicates materials (DMASs) of MZM were created from Y zeolite in the absence of using mesoscale templates. The prepared mesoporous materials showed the significant mesoporous features with the mesopore area and volume of ~260 m2 g−1 and ~0.37 cm3 g−1, respectively, and with the mesopore sizes distributed in a range of 2.5–15 nm. MZM materials possess the total acidity of about 0.6 mmol g−1, and exhibited comparatively superior catalytic activity to the parent Y zeolite and MCM-41 in the vapor-phase catalytic dealkylation of 1,3,5 triisopropylbenzene (TiPBz) and liquid-phase catalytic aldol condensation (of benzaldehyde with 1-heptanal). Although the yield loss is inevitable for preparing MZMs using the MWAC method, the preliminary economic analysis of the preparation cost of MZMs is reasonable. Additionally, a comprehensive comparison of the state-of-the-art mesoporous materials concerning their sustainable aspects was made, showing that MZMs are promising mesoporous materials for further development and functionalisation for catalysis.