Dynamic adsorption/desorption of p-xylene on nanomorphic MFI zeolites: Effect of zeolite crystal thickness and mesopore architecture

• Published in: Journal of hazardous materials 2021-02, Vol.403, p.123659-123659, Article 123659
• Main Authors: Kim, Nam Sun, Numan, Muhammad, Nam, Sung Chan, Park, Sang-Eon, Jo, Changbum
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dynamic adsorption; MFI zeolite; Xylene adsorption; Zeolite nanosheet; Zeolite thickness
• ISSN: 0304-3894; 1873-3336
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123659

[Display omitted] •Dynamic adsorption capacity of p-xylene increased as zeolite thickness was decreased.•Breakthrough time of 2-nm thick MFI nanosheets is 2.3 times longer than bulk MFI.•Mesopore opening is an important factor for adsorption/desorption behavior of p-xylene.•Facile diffusion is only possible when mesopore may be open to the exterior. Zeolites have attracted great interest as an adsorbent for the removal of volatile organic compounds. However, they suffer from low adsorption capacities due to severe diffusion limitations. Here, the effects of zeolite thickness and mesopore architecture on dynamic adsorption of p-xylene have been examined with a number of MFI-type zeolites with different crystal thicknesses and mesopore openings (i.e. open mesopore, constricted mesopore), which were prepared via hydrothermal synthesis with various organic structure-directing agents and post-synthetic desilication. The results showed that the breakthrough time of MFI zeolite could be improved by more than 2.3 times by reducing the crystal thickness of zeolite to a single-unit-cell dimension (∼2 nm). The time improvement can be attributed to the short diffusion path length that results in easy access of p-xylene to intracrystalline micropores and a large external crystal surface area. In the case of mesopore openings, the presence of constricted mesopores caused the mass transfer of p-xylene into zeolite adsorbents to slow down while open mesopores did not. Furthermore, mesopore opening is an important factor for the desorption behavior of p-xylene. Adsorbed p-xylene by mesoporous zeolites could be desorbed at lower temperatures only when facile diffusion to the exterior through mesoporous channels was possible.