Seeding induced nano-sized hierarchical SAPO-34 zeolites: cost-effective synthesis and superior MTO performance

A facile and cost-effective strategy has been developed to synthesize nano-sized SAPO-34 zeolite catalysts with intracrystalline meso-macroporosity as well as high crystallinity and product yield via the seed-assisted method using triethylamine as the sole template. Significantly, compared to conventional micron-sized microporous SAPO-34 zeolites, the nano-sized hierarchical SAPO-34 zeolites show superior performance in the methanol-to-olefin (MTO) reaction with a 4-fold prolonged catalytic lifetime and remarkably improved selectivity for ethylene and propylene reaching up to 85.0%, which is among the highest catalytic performances in the MTO reaction ever reported under similar conditions.