Acidity and catalytic activity of rare earth modified Al/Zr pillared clays

The pillared montmorillonite has been prepared by exchanging Na+ in the int erlayer of montmorillonite with Al hydroxy cation followed by calcination. Pillared clays are also prepared after exchanging Na+ ions with Cc, La, Sm- ions and then pillared with aluminium oxides. The surface characterisation of the prepared catalysts has been done using XRD and surface area measurem ents. To probe the acidic property of the system, temperature programmed de sorption (TPD) of NH3 has been done. Toluene alkylation by benzyl chloride has been carried out for the evaluation of catalytic activity. The most act ive system is found to be mixed Al/Zr pillared montmorillonite.