Desorption of humic monomers from Y zeolite: A high-temperature X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric study

In this work, the thermal behaviour and kinetic modelling of p-hydroxybenzaldehyde (HBA) desorption was studied using both isothermal and non-isothermal methods from Y zeolite, to obtain a detailed structural and kinetic interpretation of the process. Rietveld refinement of in situ powder XRD patterns and TG analysis highlighted that the HBA thermal degradation occurred in the temperature range ~530–750 K. This process significantly affects the geometry of the zeolite framework, thus causing a cooperative tilting of the tetrahedra and resulting in the deformation of both 6MRs and 12MRs rings. The HBA desorption experiment was also carried out in isothermal conditions at four different temperatures (473, 523, 623 and 673 K) which are selected on the basis of the relevant features from DTG/DTA curves. The value for the reaction order is nearly the same for all isothermal rates, providing strong confirmation of the validity of the reported apparent activation energy of the p-HBA decomposition process. The corresponding activation energy value (60.92 kJ/mol) agrees with literature data reported for dealuminated HZY (58 kJ/mol) and NaY.