Zeolite Y was synthesized hydrothermally from Elefun kaolinite clay.The raw kaolinite was calcined at 850℃ to obtain more reactive clay(metakaolin).The metakaolin was dealuminated using non-heating methods to obtain the optimum dealumination route desired silica to alumina ratio between 3 and 7.The non-heating method proved successful in producing a desired ratio of 4 which was used in producing the aluminosilicate gel.The aluminosilicate gel was aged for 7 days at 95℃ for 36 hours with varying Na2O/SiO2 ratios of 0.60,0.65,0.70,0.75 and 0.80 to produce zeolite Y.The synthesized zeolites were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD)analysis.The effect of NaOH concentration was studied using the XRD patterns of synthesized zeolite Y samples with reference to a standard zeolite Y.The results indicated zeolite Y of low crystallinity accompanied with other impure phases.Furthermore,the concentration of NaOH improved the intensity of the zeolite Y crystal peaks.The Na2O/SiO2 ratio that gave the highest crystallinity optimal ratio was found to be 0.75 with NaOH concentration of 3.88M.
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