On the synthesis and performance of hierarchical nanoporous TS-1 catalysts

Abstract

Hierarchical TS-1 zeolite was successfully prepared using chitosan as a sacrificial template. The X-ray diffraction showed that the presence of chitosan with the synthesis precursor had no deleterious effect on the crystallinity and phase purity of this zeolite. X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Ti K-edge, FTIR and Raman spectroscopies revealed the titanium ions in the zeolite structure have predominantly tetrahedral coordination. However, it appears that the higher chitosan content in the synthesis gel imparted some hydrophilic character to the TS-1 system. Furthermore, the technique adopted for the preparation of the synthesis gel – e.g partially dried or fully dried – appears to affect the amount of framework titanium in the zeolite structure. The calcined form of the chitosan templated TS-1 zeolites exhibited higher cyclohexene conversion compared to the TS-1 material synthesised without this template, but these catalysts showed lower selectivity for cyclohexene epoxide.