Characterization of natural and modified zeolites using ion beam analysis techniques

Zeolites are very important materials in catalytic and industrial processes. Natural, modified and synthetic zeolites have a wide range of uses because of their good adsorption, ion exchange capacity and catalytic properties. Mexico is an import source of natural zeolites, however their utilization in the natural form is limited due to the presence of trace metallic impurities. For example, metals such as vanadium and chromium inhibit the elimination of sulfur in hydrocarbons. Therefore, it is important to know the precise composition of the zeolite material. In this work, we report the elemental characterization of zeolites using various IBA techniques. 3He+ and 2H+ beams were used to measure the major element concentrations (Si, Al, O, C) by RBS and NRA. PIXE and SEM–EDS were used to measure the total trace element content (V, Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Zr, Pb, etc). Additionally, XRD was used to study the zeolite crystal structure.