Synthesis and characterization of zeolite A by hydrothermal transformation of natural Jordanian kaolin

Abstract

The synthesis of zeolite materials by hydrothermal transformation of natural Jordanian kaolin in NaOH solutions of various concentrations was investigated at 100 C for 20 h. A mixture of zeolite A, quartz and hydroxysodalite (HS) was obtained. Zeolite A was the main product with the NaOH concentrations of 1.50–3.50 M, which was confirmed by XRD, IR and SEM. Zeolite A can be obtained from natural kaolin under the conditions applied showing that metakaolinization can be observed at 650 C which is much lower than the temperatures given in the previous works, 700–950 C. The products obtained from the experiments were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).