Alkaline treatment on commercially available aluminum rich mordenite

Several commercially available samples consisting of agglomerated small mordenite crystallites with low Si/Al ratios (5.7–10 at/at) have been treated in aqueous NaOH solution. It was found that the porosity can be enhanced when the sodium hydroxide solution is sufficiently concentrated. Treatment in 1 M NaOH for 15 min resulted in inter-crystalline porosity and the mesopore volume was increased from 0.01 to 0.21 cm3 g−1 together with an increased external surface area from 36 to 85 m2 g−1. The micropore volume and crystallinity were preserved after the treatment. Both H-MOR and Na-MOR mordenite agglomerates have been successfully treated: the Na-MOR requires a longer contact time to obtain similar porosity. By carefully choosing the alkaline concentration and contact time, intra-crystalline mesoporosity can be obtained for mordenite with Si/Al ratios as low as 10. Catalytic tests with proton mordenite showed that alkaline treatment leads to more than one order of magnitude of activity gain in the liquid-phase alkylation of benzene with propene to form cumene, while selectivity is preserved. These results demonstrate that alkaline treatment also on high-aluminum content mordenites is an effective tool to enhance accessibility and thereby its catalytic performance.