Hydrothermal synthesis of zeolite Rho using methylcellulose as the space-confinement additive

Pure zeolite Rho has been synthesized by the hydrothermal method using CsOH and 18-crown-6 ether as the template agent and methylcellulose (MC) as the space-confinement additive. XRD, SEM, FT-IR and TGA-DTA techniques were applied to characterize the obtained zeolite Rho powders. The results indicate that the addition of MC is able to promote the overall crystallization rate of zeolite Rho and simultaneously to control the particles to a size smaller than 1 μm and a uniform size distribution. However, a higher calcination temperature, i.e. around 600 °C is also required to remove the water and organic species occluded in the zeolite precursor.