A novel method of Al-pillared montmorillonite preparation for potential industrial up-scaling

A novel method of preparing Al-pillared montmorillonite has been developed. The process uses a minimum amount of liquid and is simpler to operate than the conventional method of pillaring. Here. the pillaring agent (solid Al-13 nitrate) is ground together with the powdered raw montmorillonite (from Wyoming) and dialysed against a limited volume of deionised water. The resultant Al-intercalated clay is heated at 300degreesC and characterized by X-ray diffraction. nitrogen sorption, and chemical analysis. The results are compared with those obtained for Al-pillared inter-layered clays (PILC) prepared by conventional procedure. Besides yielding a highly microporous and crystalline products, the new method offers the potential for extension to an industrial-scale process. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.