Silica bonded K10 montmorillonite (SBM): a high surface area catalytic clay material

Using hydrothermal surfactant treatment, the broken clay layers of K10 mont morillonite (M) were bonded with fumed silica to form SBM (silica bonded M) . SBM was characterized by BET surface area measurement, N-2 adsorption-des orption isotherm, XRD, FTIR, IPA reaction, and pyridine FTIR acidity measur ement. It was found that SBM is a new type of porous clay material having v ery high surface area (736 m(2)/g) and high pore volume. SBM also provides more opportunities to make use of the propensity of catalytic sites in M by exposing much more of these catalytic sites in M for various reactions. (C ) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.