LAUSR

Abstract A great decrease in the crystallization time of EU-1 zeolite to 10 h was achieved by coupling between the microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis and the addition of fluoride as crystallization promoter in the presence of 10% EU-1 seeds in alkaline media. Interesting characterization results were obtained by observing an octahedral coordination of Al incorporated with the fluoride presented in the synthesis in the form of AlO4F2. This finding was confirmed by analyzing the spectra of FTIR and 27Al MAS NMR which showed additional peak attributed to AlO4F2. The short crystallization time offered a significant decrease of EU-1 particle size to ∼500 nm as observed on FE-SEM. A pure phase of EU-1 was synthesized in the range of 25–100 Si/Al ratio. An intergrowth phase of EU-1 and ZSM-48 was observed on XRD when 200 Si/Al ratio gel was prepared. Excellent catalytic performance of DME conversion to olefins was achieved over the co-crystalline EU-1 and ZSM-48 sample. The sample showed exceptional stability for 360 min on stream compared with other samples and the highest olefins selectivity which reached to 78%.