Silica supported sulfated zirconia prepared by a sol-gel process: Effect of solvent evacuation procedure on the structural, textural and catalytic properties

Sol-gel process was used to prepare silica supported sulfated zirconia catalysts. The main parameter studied in this work was the gel drying method through four different ways of solvent evacuation. Textural, structural as well as the acidic properties of the four samples were studied using N2 physisorption, X-ray diffraction, mass spectrometry, sulfur chemical analysis and adsorption-desorption of pyridine. The isomerization of n-hexane was used as a catalytic test. The surface areas and the pore distributions are highly affected by the drying mode. One of the four drying methods leads to a solid having improved textural properties and presenting both the crystalline ZrO2 tetragonal phase and a particular type of sulfate mode bond. It seems that these three conditions are necessary for achieving high catalytic activity.