Parametric Study of Reaction Parameters on the Synthesis of Phase Pure ETS-10.
Open Access
- Author:
- De Viccaro, Daniella
- Area of Honors:
- Chemical Engineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Gina Noh, Thesis Supervisor
Michael John Janik, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- ETS-10
Parametric study
Heteroatom
Ion exchange - Abstract:
- The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the parameters that affect the synthesis of phase pure ETS-10. ETS-10, a titanosilicate, is a promising microporous material for separating critical elements. It has a good potential for being a high capacity and tunable ion exchange material for critical separation due to its relative abundance of charge sites. It is synthesized hydrothermally by combining sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, titanium oxide (P25), sodium silicate, hydrochloric acid, and deionized water (described in Chapter 2). The synthesis was successful using this method; however, subsequent syntheses formed an impurity at 11° in the XRD patterns. To find the cause of this impurity several synthesis parameters were evaluated including synthesis containers, synthesis time, reagents, and mixing methods. Through this parametric study, it was found that the 11° impurity was removed when using new sodium silicate and new FEP bottles. This provided insights on how to modify the synthesis parameters to produce phase-pure ETS-10; however, further research needs to be performed to determine what the impurity is. Heteroatom-substituted ETS-10 was also researched since it can modify the material’s properties and enhance its performance for specific applications. Two ETVS-10 syntheses were performed using two different titanium sources (P25 and titanium isopropoxide). It was found that using titanium isopropoxide synthesized ETVS-10; however, there was a large amount of quartz impurity present. New techniques for cleaning heavily used FEP bottles and exploring various heteroatom substitutions to improve the properties of ETS-10 will be investigated in the future. Once phase pure ETS-10 is synthesized, it can be used to selectively adsorb and recover critical elements, which can have significant economic and environmental benefits.