Comparative study of hydrothermal synthesis routes of zeolite A

Four different methods for zeolite A (Linde Type A; LTA) synthesis were investigated and compared. The four investigated synthesis methods were the microspheres, the metakaolin-based, the NaOH-accelerated metakaolin-based and the aluminosilicate gel-based methods, respectively. The impact of the hydrothermal synthesis temperature was studied at 60, 80 and 100 °C was studied for each of the methods. The final product (zeolite A) was characterized and compared using XRD, SEM, EDS, FT-IR and BET. The most efficient synthesis route, resulting in the purest product, was determined to be an aluminosilicate gel-based method (fourth) followed by a microspheres method (first), both being most efficient at 80 °C.