Thermal stability of Y zeolites containing different rare earth cations

Abstract

In this paper, the influence of both nature and content of rare earth (RE) cations on the thermal stability and textural properties of NaY type zeolite was studied by differential thermal analysis (DTA) and specific surface area measurements. It was observed that, like RE elements from the light group, the introduction of the elements from the heavy group causes an increase in the thermal stability of the zeolite, increasing its structure collapse temperature, which is independent of the RE nature introduced for high exchange level. Moreover, micropore surface area decreases as a function of the rare earth exchange level, as an indication that the presence of bulky hydrated rare earth cations reduces the accessibility to micropores.