Characterization of short-time dealumined HZSM-5 zeolites

Temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) of water was applied to characterize short-time dealuminated HZSM-5 zeolites. Using a regularization method, distribution functions of the effective desorption energy of water were calculated. The results clearly show that during dealumination a new adsorption site is formed which can be attributed to non-framework or transient aluminium species. The highest concentration of these sites was observed for a dealumination time of 25-30 min. NO adsorption studies support this result. Furthermore, it could be concluded that the heterogeneity and the average acid strength of the remaining Si-OH-Al groups of the dealuminated samples do not change compared to the Si-OH-Al groups of the parent HZSM-5 zeolite. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.