Direct evidence of time-dependent crystallization evolution of SAPO-34 and SAPO-20 zeolites directed by trimethylbenzylammonium hydroxide for microwave-assisted ethanolysis of furfuryl alcohol

• Main Authors: Wang, Guanchen, AlMasoud, Najla, Alomar, Taghrid S., Azman, Yasmin Nadhirah, Maireles-Torres, Pedro, Chia, Stephen, Juan, Joon Ching, Ling, Tau Chuan, El-Bahy, Zeinhom M., Ng, Eng-Poh
• Format: Article
• Published: Royal Society of Chemistry 2024
• Subjects: Q Science (General); QD Chemistry
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/45411/; https://doi.org/10.1039/d4nj00875h

Time-dependent crystallization evolution for synthesizing SAPO34 and SAPO-20 zeolites from a very active hydrogel is followed and reported where the XRD, FTIR, TGA/DTG, SEM/EDX, N2 adsorption-desorption and TPD-NH3 techniques are used. During the crystallization process, the hydrophobic trimethylbenzylammonium cation (BTMA+) has shown its ability as an effective structure-directing and pore filling agent. The resulting pure SAPO-34 and SAPO-20 show high crystallinity, where SAPO-34 exhibits higher porosity (393 m2 g-1, 0.24 cm3 g-1) and acidity (1.20 mmol g-1) than SAPO-20 (29 m2 g-1, 0.16 cm3 g-1, 0.02 mmol g-1), and these features are highly beneficial in the microwave-assisted ethanolysis of furfuryl alcohol. SAPO-34 shows outstanding catalytic activity (100% conversion, 72.5 +/- 0.3% yield of ethyl levulinate) and its performance is much superior to that of SAPO-20 and other classical catalysts thanks to its medium pore size that induces molecular sieving effect. The spent SAPO-34 catalyst has high recyclability with stable activity, making it a superior and cost-effective catalyst for various selective petrochemical reactions. Time-dependent crystallization evolution for synthesizing SAPO34 and SAPO-20 zeolites from a very active hydrogel is followed and reported where the XRD, FTIR, TGA/DTG, SEM/EDX, N2 adsorption-desorption and TPD-NH3 techniques are used.