Synthesis of nanosized ZSM-5 zeolite using extracted silica from rice husk without adding any alumina source

Abstract

The synthesis of analcime and nanosized ZSM-5 zeolites was carried out by a hydrothermal method with silica extracted from rice husk, available as an inexpensive local biowaste, and without the use of an extra alumina source. Amorphous silica (with 88 wt% of SiO2) was extracted from rice husk ash by a suitable alkali solution. The effects of crystallization temperature, time and SiO2/Al2O3 ratio of the initial system on the properties of final products were investigated. For the characterization of the synthesized product, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray techniques, Fourier transform infrared and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method were applied. Crystallinity percentages of analcime and nanosized ZSM-5 were 95.86 and 89.56, respectively, with specific surface area of 353.5 m2 g−1 for ZSM-5. The experimental results revealed that the synthesis of analcime and nanosized ZSM-5 zeolites was more practical with using silica extracted from inexpensive raw materials, while the whole crystallization process was accomplished without adding any alumina source during.