Mechanochemical pre-treatment for efficient solvent-free synthesis of SSZ-13 zeolite.

Abstract

Economic and environmentally benign synthesis of SSZ-13 zeolite was made possible due to the mechanochemical activation of dry reagents by planetary mill. Contrary to manual grinding in a mortar, the proposed automatized approach is scalable and reproducible. This dry process provided immense gain in product/gel ratio, significantly minimized reaction space and organic structure directing agent use, and eliminated agitation. Obtained materials were comparable to the product of classical synthesis. Use of different silica sources resulted in SSZ-13 zeolites with various characteristics: different Si/Al ratio and crystal size.