(352d) Synthesis and Catalytic Testing of Lewis Acidic Nano-MFI Zeolites for Epoxide Ring Opening Reaction with Alcohol | AIChE

(352d) Synthesis and Catalytic Testing of Lewis Acidic Nano-MFI Zeolites for Epoxide Ring Opening Reaction with Alcohol

Authors 

Parulkar, A. - Presenter, The Ohio State University
Joshi, R., The Ohio State University
Deshpande, N., The Ohio State University
Spanos, A., Ohio State University
Brunelli, N., Ohio State University
The well-defined pores in zeolites impart shape selectivity for a variety of reactions. However, these pores can also cause diffusion limitations reducing the catalytic performance. Several strategies have been investigated for overcoming diffusion limitation including development of hierarchical structures and reduction in particle size. Nonetheless, synthesis of Lewis acidic nano-zeolites still remains a challenge. In this work, five-fold reduction in particle size is achieved for tin-substituted MFI (nSnMFI) zeolite by modifying the synthesis conditions, as compared to convention (cSnMFI). The growth of the nSnMFI is monitored using dynamic light scattering, showing that inclusion of Sn at 1:200 (Sn:Si) in the zeolite synthesis gel does not influence the zeolite growth rate. The increased catalytic performance because of enhanced diffusion in nSnMFI is demonstrated for epoxide ring opening reaction. Higher conversion is achieved for the ring opening of bulky epoxide substrate such as epoxyhexane with methanol with nSnMFI as compared to cSnMFI. The precise engineering of zeolites with reduced crystal size provides an efficient route to overcome diffusion limitations of bulky reactants. To further expand the scope, nano-zeolites with other frameworks can be achieved by modification of synthesis strategies.