Somderam S., Abd Aziz A.S., Abdullah A.H., Mat R., 2019, Characterisation of NaA Zeolite Made from Malaysian Kaolin, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 72, 325-330.
In this study, as an alternative to the pure chemical used to prepare zeolite NaA, the clay mineral kaolinite was used as the source material for NaA-zeolite preparation. Kaolin as an alternative low cost material and as a potential precursor to zeolite A synthesis via metakaolinisation of kaolin at 900 °C to a reactive amorphous material called metakaolin and hydrothermal treatment of metakaolin with an aqueous alkali. Before this reaction takes place however, raw kaolin undergoes a pretreatment process to increase its purity through the removal of impurities. This research intends to prepare zeolite A from Malaysian kaolin. A series of composition and structural characterisations of both the starting material (kaolin) and the final product (zeolite A) were carried out using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to confirm the formation of NaA-zeolite. From the characterisation studies, it was found that high-purity NaA-zeolite can be produced from local kaolin. These findings enable us to answer the fundamental question regarding the structural characteristics of NaA-zeolites synthesised from Malaysian kaolin.
