Effect of degree of crystallinity and the contents of aluminium oxide and sodium oxide on water sorption capacity in NaY zeolite

The paper presents mathematical models which describe the dependence between water sorption capacity, on one hand, and the degree of crystallinity and the content of Na2O and Al2O3 in NaY zeolite, on the other. NaY was synthesized from sodium aluminate solution, water glass and sulfuric acid under different conditions of crystallization. The obtained zeolite powders underwent chemical analysis (Na2O, Al2O3), water sorption capacity (WSC), as well as diffraction analysis which served to determine the degree of crystallinity (CD). Zeolite powder samples had the following values: for the content of Na2O from 13.81 to 16.14%, for Al2O3 from 21.58 to 27.17%, degree of crystallinity from 58.70 to 114.00 and WSC from 21.32 to 36.59%, and regression analysis lead to the conclusion that there is a significant correlation between water sorption capacity and the degree of crystallinity, unlike the contents of Na2O and Al2O3 in the zeolite powder, whose correlation with water sorption capacity was neglibile. The mathematical model obtained by linear regression analysis had a high R2= 0.796, where as non-linear regressional analysis produced a better mathematical model R2= 0.912, where water sorption capacity was expressed through a quadratic model.