Industrial Solid Waste Based EU-12 Nanozeolite: Synthesis and Characterisation

The study focused on synthesis of ETL framework type novel EU-12 nanozeolite from coal fly ash (FA) for the first time by sonication assisted hydrothermal treatment (SAH). FA and the synthesized EU-12 nanozeolite were characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDS, XRF, TEM, RAMAN, DSC-TGA, BET surface area measurements, XPS and zeta potential analysis. SAH method produced EU-12 nanozeolite in lesser crystallization time compared to hydrothermal treatment method. The particle size of EU-12 were determined from TEM analysis as 5-200 nm. Crystallinity% of EU-12 was obtained by analysing XRD peaks as 76.39%. The optimized condition for EU-12 nanozeolite synthesis was found as calcination temperature of 850 degrees C, FA/NaOH ratio of 1:8, sonication time of 30 min, hydrothermal treatment time and temperature of 8 h and 100 degrees C respectively. Furthermore, the efficiency of synthesized EU-12 nanozeolite was determined for the first time in terms of adsorption efficiency towards 10 ppm Rhodamine B which was found to be 67.32% for 1 g L-1 EU-12 within 150 min. Due to high adsorption capacity and morphological properties, we propose that the synthesized nanozeolite can play a significant role as low cost adsorbent in remediation of toxic industrial dyes. [GRAPHICS] .

Automated summary

The study focused on synthesizing novel EU-12 nanozeolite from coal fly ash using sonication assisted hydrothermal treatment for the first time. The SAH method produced EU-12 nanozeolite with lesser crystallization time and the optimized synthesis conditions were determined. The efficiency of the synthesized EU-12 nanozeolite in adsorbing Rhodamine B was evaluated for the first time.