An investigation of the crystallization kinetics of zeotype SAPO-34 crystals synthesized by hydrothermal and sonochemical methods

• Kinetics study of SAPO-34 crystallization was investigated by using XRD analysis.
• Influence of sonochemical synthesis on the kinetics parameters was presented.
• Kinetics data of growth period were determined by the Avrami–Erofeev model.
• Crystal growth mechanism was significantly enhanced by using sonication process.
• Considering the kinetic compensation effect resulted in the isokinetic temperature.

The kinetics study of SAPO-34 crystallization from a gel containing morpholine as a structure directing agent (SDA) was investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns in order to determine the kinetics parameters, i.e. induction times, rate constants, frequency factors, and activation energies for the induction and growth stages. The kinetics data of growth period were determined by using the Avrami–Erofeev nucleation growth model. SAPO-34 molecular sieves were synthesized by using both sonochemical-assisted hydrothermal and conventional hydrothermal heating at temperatures of 180, 200, and 220 °C to elucidate the influence of crystallization method on the crystallization kinetics of SAPO-34. The activation energy values indicated that the crystal growth mechanism was enhanced for samples synthesized sonochemically, whereas the induction energy was not greatly affected by using sonication process. Also, the kinetic compensation effect (KCE) was considered in order to obtain the isokinetic temperature.