SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NOVEL ZEOLITE-X ENCAPSULATED Cu (II) PHTHALOCYANINE COMPLEX FOR SMALL MOLECULE ADSORPTION

Zeolite Na-X was successfully synthesized from Oke-Ako raw kaolin clay through a series of processes.Raw kaolin was soaked, beneficiated, and calcined to obtain reactive amorphous metakaolin.Dealumination of metakaolin was carried out using tetraoxosulphate (VI) acid, and the resulting gel was aged before crystallization at 110oC for 8 hours.Characterization using XRF, XRD, SEM, FT-IR, and BET revealed positive outcomes in the zeolitization process.The XRF analysis confirmed the success of the pretreatment and zeolitization processes.XRD showed enhanced crystallinity for beneficiated, metakaolin, and zeolite-X at 8 hours of crystallization.SEM images of synthesized zeolite-X at 8 hours displayed desirable characteristics.XRF results indicated Si/Al values of 1.95 and 1.78 for D5ZNa-X and ZNa-X, respectively.Both exhibited sharper zeolitic characteristic O-H stretching bands at 3362 cm-1 and Si-O stretching bands at 969 cm-1.The specific surface area was significantly larger in ZNa-X (266.97 m2/g) compared to D5ZNa-X (105.747m2/g).This confirms the successful production of zeolite-X from Oke-Ako kaolin, supported by literature comparisons.Overall, these results contribute insights into zeolite behavior as ammonia adsorbents, essential for optimizing ammonia removal applications and environmental remediation solutions.