Synthesis of MEL type zeolite with different kinds of morphology for the recovery of 1-butanol from aqueous solution

Size, shape and morphology of zeolite crystallites play an important role in the synthesis of mixed matrix membranes having good membrane productivity, selectivity and stability. In the present work emphasis is placed on the use of hydrothermally synthesized high silica MEL type zeolite with hydrophobic character for the preparation of mixed matrix membranes. The morphological study shows that the sizes for crystals of MEL3 and MEL5 are at the nano scale while for hexagonal crystals of MEL4 and spherical crystals of MEL6 ranges in micro scale (20–35 μm). The prime objective of this study is to develop new zeolite for the preparation of mixed matrix membrane, so before the use of these materials for the same purpose, adsorption potentials of these zeolite materials for 1-butanol were also investigated. Thereafter adsorption data was fitted to the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models. The later model achieved best fit with the experimental data. The high negative value of Gibbs free energy change (∆Go) indicates the feasible and spontaneous adsorption of 1-butanol on MEL6 zeolite. Negative values of heat of adsorption (∆Ho) and entropy change (∆So) indicate exothermic adsorption process with low degree of randomness.

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► MEL type zeolite synthesis with different surface morphologies.
► Hexagonal crystals of width ~14 μm and length ~22 μm, and spheres of diameter ~18 μm were obtained.
► An adsorption capacity of MEL6 for 1-butanol is 222.24 mg g− 1.
► MEL6 zeolite material can be used for mixed matrix membrane preparation.