Green energy-efficient synthesis of Fe-ZSM-5 zeolite and its application for hydroxylation of phenol

Currently, there remains a great challenge to synthesize zeolites in an energy-saving and environmentally friendly manner. Herein we report a novel solvent-free route of synthesizing Fe-ZSM-5 zeolite, which is featured by using Fenton's reagent as a promoter. The influences of crystallization time, amount of hydrogen peroxide and low-temperature pretreatment on the synthesis of Fe-ZSM-5 zeolite were investigated in detail. The results indicate that the combination of solvent-free synthesis with Fenton's reagent can facilitate the rapid crystallization of Fe-ZSM-5 zeolite. The resultant Fe-ZSM-5 zeolite was used as a catalyst for phenol hydroxylation, and characterized by XRD , SEM, ICP-AES, N 2 physisorption and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Notably, it exhibits a much better catalytic performance as compared with the reference catalyst by conventional solvent-free method. The observed enhanced catalytic performance for this Fe-ZSM-5 catalyst is attributed to its larger BET surface area and mesoporous volume as well as enrichment towards phenol.