Influence of framework silica-to-alumina ratio on the water adsorption and desorption characteristics of MHI-CaX/CaY zeolite Original Research Article

The influence of the framework SiO2/Al2O3 ratio from 2.0 to 10.0 of commercial faujasite-type CaX/CaY zeolite produced by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI) on the water adsorption and desorption characteristics was investigated. Not only the change in electronegativity of the zeolite but the change in pore-size distribution of the zeolite affects the water adsorption and desorption characteristics of the zeolite. We found great differences in isotherms of water between CaY7.0 (SiO2/Al2O3=7.0) and CaY10.0. The differences are mainly caused by the considerable change in pore-size distribution. A step-wise variation was observed in the desorption isotherm of water from CaY10.0 at approximately P/P0=0.4. This is due to the pore distribution of CaY10.0 being relatively poor in smaller micropores in zeolite structure, since a similar phenomenon is observed in the case of argon adsorption on CaY10.0. In the experiments using a fixed bed, an apparent dependency of HTO dehydration ratio on the flow rate of the purge gas is measured with the CaY10.0 zeolite, while the water desorption from other tested CaX/CaY zeolite is independent of the flow rate of helium purge gas. This indicates that the transfer step of water diffusion through a laminar film appeared as one of the rate-controlling steps in the water desorption from CaY10.0.