title: Continuous flow synthesis of ZSM-5 zeolite on the order of seconds.
abstract: The hydrothermal synthesis of zeolites carried out in batch reactors takes a time so long (typically, on the order of days) that the crystallization of zeolites has long been believed to be very slow in nature. We herein present a synthetic process for ZSM-5, an industrially important zeolite, on the order of seconds in a continuous flow reactor using pressurized hot water as a heating medium. Direct mixing of a well-tuned precursor (90 °C) with the pressurized water preheated to extremely high temperature (370 °C) in the millimeter-sized continuous flow reactor resulted in immediate heating to high temperatures (240-300 °C); consequently, the crystallization of ZSM-5 in a seed-free system proceeded to completion within tens of or even several seconds. These results indicate that the crystallization of zeolites can complete in a period on the order of seconds. The subtle design combining a continuous flow reactor with pressurized hot water can greatly facilitate the mass production of zeolites in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Zhendong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Kotatsu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okabe
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Chokkalingam
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Anand
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yonezawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Ibaraki 305-8565, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Endo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8505, Japan.
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yanaba
authors.affiliation: Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8505, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.affiliation: Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute/SPring-8, Kouto 1-1-1, Sayo-gun, Hyogo 679-5198, Japan.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohara
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okubo
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan; wakihara@chemsys.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wakihara
keywords: ZSM-5; continuous flow synthesis; crystal growth; ultrafast synthesis; zeolites