A time- and cost-effective synthesis of CHA zeolite with small size using ultrasonic-assisted method

In this paper, the ultrasonic-assisted method has been used to the rapid hydrothermal synthesis of CHA zeolite in the absence of expensive organic template. The influence of different sonicated time on the crystallinity and micromorphology of CHA-type crystals has been studied in detail. The bath-type ultrasound processor produces acoustic waves at the frequency of 20 kHz and the power of ultrasound wave is 150 W. The synthesized products have been characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX, TG and N₂ adsorption analyses. Due to the acceleration on homogeneous nucleation caused by acoustic cavitation cracks during the ultrasonic vibrative process, the crystallization time can be shorten from 48 h to 10 h and the crystal size can be reduced from about 20 μm to 5 μm. The SEM observations of samples with different ultrasonic treatment time distinctly revealed the morphology evolution of the walnut-like CHA zeolites. From EDX, TG and N₂ adsorption comparisons, it is clear that untreated sample and ultrasonic sample both have similar element distribution, thermal stability, and pore size distribution. The research work in this paper has demonstrated the ultrasonic treatment can significantly improve crystallinity degree, reduce crystallization time and crystal size of CHA zeolite.