LAUSR

Abstract We reported for the first time the use of bamboo leaf biomass (BLA) as a silica source for the synthesis of aluminosilicate zeolite A (structure code LTA). The BLA with very high silica purity (ca. 99%) was obtained from combustion of acid-treated bamboo leaves, a cheap and abundant agriculture waste. The formation of zeolite A from the BLA precursor was studied by varying the synthesis conditions, i.e. crystallization time, heating temperature and initial gel molar composition. The study revealed that the synthesis parameters had profound effects on crystalline phase, morphology and crystal size of the zeolite A produced. Moreover, this study also demonstrated that the BLA-synthesized zeolite A showed excellent catalytic performance in solvent-free cyanoethylation reaction of methanol under moisture-tolerant and autogenic pressure conditions, with ca. 82% reactant conversion and 100% product selectivity even reused up to ten reaction cycles.