A systematic study on the synthesis of nanosized Y zeolite without using organic structure-directing agents: control of Si/Al ratio

Nanosized Y zeolite is a material which could potentially be used as an adsorbent or catalyst in the oil industry thanks to its increased high external area and mesopore volume. However, a simple, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly method to synthesize this zeolite has not yet been reported. Currently, the synthesis methods used to obtain nanosized Y zeolite are based on the use of organic structure-directing agents, since the zeolites obtained without these compounds have low Si/Al ratios. Based on these considerations, in this work nanosized Y zeolites were synthesized with high crystallinity and Si/Al ratios between 1.5 and 2.6, without the use of organic compounds and in a relatively short time (3 days). The study focuses on understanding the variation in the crystallization temperature when the amount of sodium aluminate, silica and sodium hydroxide is modified in the synthesis and correlates this variation with the Si/Al ratio and the particle size of the resulting zeolite.