A crystal seeds-assisted synthesis of microporous and mesoporous silicalite-1 and their CO2/N2/CH4/C2H6 adsorption properties

Synthesis of ultra-high silica (SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3  > 1800) MFI type zeolite such as silicalite-1 is still considered to be luxury because of the long synthesis time (5–12 days). Here, this material with a highly uniform mesoporous (20 nm) structure was crystallized in a shorter time (20 h) using a crystal-seeds method when an appropriate amount of potassium fluoride was added. Characterization techniques including XRD , SEM, TEM and liquid nitrogen adsorption provided detailed information on the two kinds of porous structure silicalite-1. Due to the “smooth” adsorption surface of silicalite-1 containing few equilibrium ions, it is ideal for the separation of gas mixtures containing non-polar molecules with similar physical properties. Moreover, the CH 4 , N 2 , CO 2 and C 2 H 6 adsorption properties were also investigated. Microporous silicalite-1 has a high adsorption capacity for CH 4 , N 2 , CO 2 and C 2 H 6 and adsorption selectivity for CH 4 /N 2 , CO 2 /N 2 , CO 2 /CH 4 and C 2 H 6 /CH 4 . Although a lower adsorption capacity was observed for mesoporous silicalite-1, the pore size did not affect the outstanding adsorption selectivity, on the contrary, the selectivity of mesoporous silicalite-1 was improved.