Zeolite Beta with hierarchical porosity prepared from organofunctionalized seeds

Beta zeolite with hierarchical porosity has been obtained by a new synthesis strategy, based on perturbing the growth of the zeolite crystals by functionalization of the zeolitic seeds with organosilanes in order to hinder and prevent their further aggregation and agglomeration. As a consequence, a secondary porosity in the supermicropore region has been generated in zeolite Beta, leading to a considerable increase in both the total surface area and the pore volume of the material. The enhancement of the textural properties can be controlled by changing the silanization agent molecular size and its quantity added to the synthesis medium. This type of hierarchical Beta zeolites presents interesting applications as catalysts in reactions involving bulky molecules. Thus, their catalytic activity in the catalytic cracking of LDPE has been found to be strongly enhanced compared to a standard Beta zeolite sample, due to the higher accessibility to the acid sites caused by the presence of the secondary porosity. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.