A NaY zeolite synthesized from Colombian industrial coal by-products: Potential catalytic applications

The synthesis of the NaY zeolite framework has been performed from Colombian industrial coal by-products by alkaline fusion step prior to hydrothermal reaction. The as-synthesized zeotype was characterized by Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) analysis. Results show that the NaY zeolite can be prepared under the following optimized experimental conditions: at 80 °C for 12 h from natural clinker and at 65 °C for 96 h from fly ash, although the conversion of fly ash was not very effective compared with that obtained using natural clinker. Ion exchange of metal ions in NaY zeolite is suggested to investigate its catalytic activities and its ion exchanged forms.