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Influence of Alkalinity on the Synthesis of Zeolite A and Hydroxysodalite from Metakaolin

Kaolin is a cheap and abundant source of silica and alumina, which may be used as precursors for the production of zeolites, molecular sieves with pores in the nanometer scale. Brazil, one the largest producers of kaolin, generates tons of kaolin waste in the paper coating process. That waste may be used to synthesize zeolite A and hydroxysodalite, greater added value materials with a wide range of applications. In this work, Zeolite A and hydroxysodalite were synthesized from kaolin waste of processing industries for paper coating. Kaolin was calcined to dehydroxylate kaolinite and obtain metakaolin, an amorphous material with Si/Al ratio equal to 1, being suitable for production of zeolite A and hydroxysodalite. Zeolites were synthesized under static hydrothermal conditions by reacting metakaolin with NaOH solutions of different concentrations. The zeolitic products were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the higher the NaOH concentration in the reaction medium, the higher the proportion of hydroxysodalite in the zeolitic samples.