A Mechanochemical Approach for the Preparation of Zeolite Catalyst without Acid Sites on the External Surface

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24656488
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Catalyst/Resource chemical process
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo (2013); Yokohama National University (2012)
• Principal Investigator: WAKIHARA TORU 東京大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (70377109)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
• Keywords: ゼオライト / メカノケミカル / 触媒 / パラキシレン

Research Abstract

The acid sites associated with the external surface of zeolite particles are responsible for undesirable consecutive reactions, such as isomerization, alkylation and oligomerization, resulting in a lower selectivity to a target product; therefore, the selective modification (deactivation) of the external surface of zeolite particles has been an important issue in zeolite science. Here, a new method for the surface deactivation of zeolite catalyst was tested via a mechanochemical approach using powder composer. Post-synthetic mechanochemical treatment of ZSM-5 zeolite causes a selective deactivation of catalytically active sites only existing on the external surface, giving a unique ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst without acid sites on the external surface, as a potentially useful catalyst for highly selective production of p-xylene.