Zeolite X formation in the presence of KOH under hydrothermal and micorwave techniques

The formation of zeolite X from bituminous fly ash (BFA) was studied. Si and Al present in BFA were extracted with 3 M NaOH at 75 ˚C for 24 h. The molar ratio of Si and Al in the filtrate was adjusted to 3.0 with the mixture of KOHNa2AlO3 solution followed by aging at ambient temperature for 24 h prior hydrothermal and microwave synthesis. QXRD confirmed the maximum zeolite X formation was obtained from hydrothermal synthesis at temperature of 75 ˚C for 24 h (99.0%). BET analysis showed that the surface area of the synthesized zeolite X was 554 m2 /g with pore volume and size of 0.21 cm3 /g and 6.5 nm, respectively.