Effect of sulfatation on the physicochemical and catalytic properties of molecular sieves

Abstract

Sulfated molecular sieves were synthesized and characterized by XRD, FTIR, chemical analyses, acidity measurements and N 2 adsorption-desorption isotherms. Sulfatation led to structural changes in the solid framework by increasing the acidity and accessibility of the acid sites. Brønsted and Lewis acid sites of mild to high strength improved the conversion of alcohols, but the selectivity was modest over sulfated FAU type Y, ZSM-5 and c-Al 2 O 3 solids at temperatures lower than 200°C. The characteristics of the sulfated AlSBA-15 molecular sieve in terms of acidity, textural properties and accessibility possibly make this solid useful for catalytic reactions involving bulky organic compounds.