Energy Aspects of the Thermal Behavior of Low-Sodium Zeolite ZSM-5

Abstract

A comparative study of the kinetics of the thermal removal of monoethanolamine (MEA) from low-sodium zeolite ZSM-5 was performed by X-ray diffraction analysis and synchronous thermal analysis. The zeolite was synthesized by two procedures: the hydrothermal method and the method with preliminary microwave activation of the reaction mixture. The kinetic parameters in the temperature range of MEA decomposition were calculated by the Friedman (differential) and Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose (integral) isoconversion methods, which demonstrated close values of the effective activation energy. For the sample obtained with microwave activation, the energy barrier lies in a lower range compared to the sample synthesized in the conventional way. This reduction indicates that microwave activation leads to the formation of a structural bond of the template–zeolite composite, whose decomposition requires less energy consumption.