Mechanochemical approach for selective deactivation of external surface acidity of ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst.

The acid sites associated with the external surface of zeolite particles are responsible for undesirable consecutive reactions, such as isomerization, alkylation, and oligomerization, resulting in a lower selectivity to a target product; therefore, the selective modification (deactivation) of the external surface of zeolite particles has been an important issue in zeolite science. Here, a new method for surface deactivation of zeolite catalyst was tested via a mechanochemical approach using powder composer. Postsynthetic mechanochemical treatment of ZSM-5 zeolite causes a selective deactivation of catalytically active sites existing only on the external surface, as a potentially useful catalyst for highly selective production of p-xylene.