SYNTHESIS OF ZEOLITE 4A USING BAUXITE AS ALUMINUM SOURCE: CHARACTERIZATION AND PERFORMANCE.

Zeolite 4A is crystalline microporous sodium aluminosilicate having many applications. Intensive work is being undertaken worldwide to synthesis zeolite using different aluminium and silicon sources. In this work chemical composition of indigenous bauxite was evaluated using XRF and alumina was extracted by calcination process. High quality zeolite 4A was synthesized from sodium aluminate extracted from bauxite of Khushab area, Pakistan, and commercial sodium silicate by hydrogel process without the addition of organotemplates. The SEM and XRD confirm the formation of Zeolite 4A. Performance of the prepared zeolite was also evaluated for its metal exchange rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]