Catalytic dehydration of isopropanol on neodymium-Y and X-zeolites and the effect of γ-irradiation

Abstract

Four different samples of NdX, NdY, NdNH₄X and NdNH₄Y-zeolites were prepared by ionexchange methods. DTA and XRD analyses have been carried out for the samples. The thermally activated zeolites were irradiated by 1.5 and 10.0 Mrad γ-rays. The catalytic activities of these samples were tested in dehydration of isopropanol. The results of DTA indicated that all samples showed endothermic peaks at about 215 °C related to the release of physically adsorbed water and exothermic peaks at 850–950 °C indicating the collapses of the zeolite. The X-ray analysis revealed that the exchange of sodium by neodymium or ammonium followed by neodymium ions did not change the crystal structure but some decrease in the crystallinity was observed. The catalytic activities of these zeolites were measured in dehydration of isopropanol as a function of temperature. It was found that the activity of the prepared Nd-zeolites depends on the crystallinity of zeolites and on the condensation products formed on catalyst surface. However, the irradiated samples exhibited higher catalytic activities in isopropanol conversion than the unirradiated ones. The observed higher activity for irradiated samples was attributed to the increase of the number of acidic centers responsible for dehydration of alcohols. These centers were formed as a result of the formation of tricoordinate aluminium atoms in γ-irradiated zeolites.