ABSTRACT:The hydrothermal synthesis of a zeolite, with properties suitable for use in the ADOR (AssemblyDisassembly-Organisation-Reassembly) process, has been designed and a zeolite, called SAZ-1, successfully prepared. This zeolite has then been used as a parent in the ADOR process and two new daughter zeolites, IPC-15 and IPC-16, have been prepared. The X-ray powder diffraction patterns of the new zeolites match well those predicted using computational methods. The three materials, form an isoreticular series with decreasing pores size from 14-ring to 12-ring to 10-ring.

The Assembly-Disassembly-Organisation-Reassembly (ADOR) mechanism is a recent method for preparing inorganic framework materials and, in particular, zeolites. This flexible approach has enabled the synthesis of isoreticular families of zeolites with unprecedented continuous control over porosity, and the design and preparation of materials that would have been difficult -or even impossible -to obtain using traditional hydrothermal techniques. Applying the ADOR process to a parent zeolite with the UTL framework topology, for example, has led to six previously unknown zeolites (named IPC-n with n = 2, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 10). To realize the full potential of the ADOR method, however, a further understanding of the complex mechanism at play is needed. Here, we probe the disassembly, organisation and reassembly steps of the ADOR process through a combination of in situ solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and powder Xray diffraction (PXRD) experiments. We further use the insight gained to explain the formation of the intriguing structure of zeolite IPC-6.The recently-discovered ADOR process 1-4 has proved to be effective for the preparation of new silicate and aluminosilicate zeolites, providing routes to 'unfeasible' synthesis targets with novel structural features 3 and to families of isoreticular solids whose pore size can be precisely controlled over the whole range of zeolite porosity, from small pore all the way up to extra-large pore materials. 1,4 The process comprises four distinct steps. The assembly (A) process involves the preparation of a parent zeolite with suitable chemical and topological properties for

The transition from integrated petrochemical complexes toward decentralized chemical plants utilizing distributed feedstocks calls for simpler downstream unit operations. Less separation steps are attractive for future scenarios and provide an opportunity to design the next-generation catalysts, which function efficiently with effluent reactant mixtures. The methanol to olefins (MTO) reaction constitutes the second step in the conversion of CO 2 , CO, and H 2 to light olefins. We present a series of isomorphically substituted zeotype catalysts with the AEI topology (MAPO-18s, M = Si, Mg, Co, or Zn) and demonstrate the superior performance of the M(II)-substituted MAPO-18s in the conversion of MTO when tested at 350 °C and 20 bar with reactive feed mixtures consisting of CH 3 OH/CO/CO 2 /H 2 . Co-feeding high pressure H 2 with methanol improved the catalyst activity over time, but simultaneously led to the hydrogenation of olefins (olefin/paraffin ratio < 0.5). Co-feeding H 2 /CO/CO 2 /N 2 mixtures with methanol revealed an important, hitherto undisclosed effect of CO in hindering the hydrogenation of olefins over the Brønsted acid sites (BAS). This effect was confirmed by dedicated ethene hydrogenation studies in the absence and presence of CO co-feed. Assisted by spectroscopic investigations, we ascribe the favorable performance of M(II)APO-18 under co-feed conditions to the importance of the M(II) heteroatom in altering the polarity of the M–O bond, leading to stronger BAS. Comparing SAPO-18 and MgAPO-18 with BAS concentrations ranging between 0.2 and 0.4 mmol/g cat , the strength of the acidic site and not the density was found to be the main activity descriptor. MgAPO-18 yielded the highest activity and stability upon syngas co-feeding with methanol, demonstrating its potential to be a next-generation MTO catalyst.

Germanosilicate zeolites often suffer from low hydrothermal stability due to the high content of Ge. Herein, we investigated the post-synthesis introduction of Al accompanied by stabilization of selected germanosilicates by degermanation/alumination treatments. The influence of chemical composition and topology of parent germanosilicate zeolites (ITH, IWW, and UTL) on the post-synthesis incorporation of Al was studied. Alumination of ITH (Si/Ge=2-13) and IWW (Si/Ge=3-7) zeolites resulted in the partial substitution of Ge for Al (up to 80 %), which was enhanced with a decrease of Ge content in the parent zeolite. In contrast, in extra-large pore zeolite UTL (Si/Ge=4-6) the hydrolysis of the interlayer Ge-O bonds dominated over substitution. The stabilization of zeolite UTL was achieved using a novel two-step degermanation/alumination procedure by the partial post-synthesis substitution of Ge for Si followed by alumination. This new method of stabilization and incorporation of strong acid sites may extend the utilization of germanosilicate zeolites, which has been until now been limited.

In this article, the synthesis, characterization and catalytic performance of three MgAPO-11 catalysts with distinct crystal morphologies (sunflower, ball and candy) are presented. Among the three samples, the candy-like MgAPO-11-C, with high crystallinity and uniform particle size (of about 1 µm), was synthesized for the first time by using a unique two-step dry gel method. Despite the similar acid strength of the three samples, the different and distinct morphologies of the catalysts resulted in very different methanol-to-hydrocarbons (MTH) performances. In particular, the candy-like MgAPO-11-C presented the best MTH performance with the highest total conversion capacity (4.4 gMeOH·gcatalyst−1 h−1) and the best selectivity to C5+ aliphatics (64%).