Study on the structural formation of new useful multiporous material 'nano-meso ZSM-5' and its application in producing biofuel

New 'nano-meso ZSM-5' (NM-ZSM-5) material was successfully synthesised by hydrothermal treatment using silica derived from rice husk. The synthesis of the material involves two steps of crystallisation, including the formation of ZSM-5 zeolite seed and mesoporous structure. The effect of crystallisation time on the formation of mesoporous structure was studied in the range 0-40 h. Samples were characterised by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and Al-NMR methods. The results show that the best time for crystallisation is 14 h. The synthesised material has a multiporous structure, including micropore system of ZSM-5 zeolite, mesopore system of MCM-41 and another pore system which has a diameter in the range 10-50 nm (mesoporous system) due to the burning of organic compounds that remain in the material during the calcination process. In addition, the synthesised NM-ZSM-5 achieves crystallinity of approximately 100%. The catalytic performance of NM-ZSM-5 material was evaluated by the catalytic cracking reaction to produce biofuel from vegetable oil sludge. The research proved that NM-ZSM-5 is one of the most suitable catalysts for this process. The catalytic cracking reaction over NM-ZSM-5 yields products that are similar to those of the petroleum cracking process, such as dry gases, liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, light cycle oil and heavy cycle oil.