日本ゼオライト学会　刊行物 Publication of Japan Zeolite Association

Nippon Shokubai has developed the binder-less zeolite moldings which can be synthesized from porous silica moldings as the source silica of the zeolites. The binder-less zeolite moldings were prepared by loading alkali metal and non-volatile structure-directing-agent (SDA) onto the silica moldings, followed by treatment with steam. It seems that this developed method of the binder-less zeolite synthesis has some versatility because various crystal structure of high silica type metallosilicate can be synthesized by the choice of SDAs or the co-existence of hetero-atom compounds, i.e., Al, Fe etc., on silica moldings. The developed binder-less zeolite moldings not only have high crystallinity but also retain the shapes and the meso- or macroporous structures of the source silica moldings. Therefore, the morphological character of the binder-less zeolite moldings, i.e., shapes, size of particle, macropore size and volume etc., can be easily designed. Nippon Shokubai has successfully developed the catalytic process for selective diethanolamine production in the commercial scale using this binder-less zeolite catalyst.