Catalytic activities and properties of AlHMS mesoporous molecular sieves Original Research Article

AlHMS with Si/Al ratio in the range 4.6–31.0 were synthesized by the neutral templating route using hexadecylamine as template. Similar to AlMCM-41, AlHMS molecular sieves have high surface area, uniform mesopores and high thermal stability. Acid sites are generated directly by calcining the as-synthesized materials. The acid strengths of the weak and strong acid sites on AlHMS are close to those on HY zeolite, but the number of acid sites is less. AlHMS catalysts are active for acid-catalyzed reactions, such as cumene cracking and isopropanol dehydration. They are more catalytically active than HY for 1,3,5-tri-tert-butylbenzene dealkylation due to facilitation of the diffusion of the bulky reactant and product molecules. AlHMS-supported NiO catalysts show good activities for thiophene hydrodesulfurization.