Physicochemical Properties and Catalytic Performance of MEL Zeolites Synthesized by Steam-Assisted Conversion

MEL-type zeolite was synthesized by a novel steam-assisted crystallization method. This zeolite was characterized by X-ray diffraction, low-temperature nitrogen adsorption/desorption, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray fluorescence analysis. IR spectroscopy of probe molecules (pyridine and 2,6-di-tert-butylpyridine) was used to characterize the acidic properties of this sample. The MEL zeolite synthesized by steam-assisted crystallization consisted of aggregated nanocrystals up to 300 nm in size and exhibited a high phase purity, a large micropore volume (0.13 cm(3)/g), and high concentrations of both Bronsted and Lewis acid sites. When tested in oligomerization of a butane-butylene fraction and hydroconversion of n-hexadecane, this MEL zeolite proved to be comparable to MFI-type zeolites in terms of catalytic performance.