Bread-template synthesis of hierarchical mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolite with hydrothermally stable mesoporosity

A hierarchical mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolite has been synthesized by using starch-derived bread as a meso-template. The obtained mesoporous ZSM-5 was characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen sorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermogravimetric (TG)/differential thermal analysis (DTA) techniques. Hydrothermal treatments revealed that the mesoporosity in hierarchical mesoporous ZSM-5 exhibited excellent hydrothermal stability. Catalytic tests showed that hierarchical mesoporous ZSM-5 was more active than conventional zeolite of ZSM-5 in catalytic cracking of 1,3,5-tri-isopropylbenzene. Hydrogen adsorption measurements showed hierarchical mesoporous ZSM-5 had a higher storage capacity than the conventional ZSM-5.