In situ FTIR studies of propene adsorption over Ag- and Cu-exchanged Y zeolites

Ag- and Cu-exchanged forms of HY zeolite are prepared by the solid-state ion exchange (SSIE) technique. Samples with different metal loadings ranging from low to high exchange are obtained. Both compositional and structural investigations of the exchanged zeolites are performed by elemental analysis, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and nitrogen adsorption porosimetry. The acidity investigation is carried out by using the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) of pyridine adsorption. Propene adsorption over the Ag- and Cu-exchanged zeolites is studied at room temperature by using in situ FTIR spectroscopy. XRD analysis shows good conservation of the zeolitic structure after ionic exchange even at high exchange degree. Porosity measurements indicate that the increase of Ag and Cu exchange degrees leads to a decrease of the porous volumes and the specific surface areas, which is more pronounced for Ag-exchanged zeolites. The acidity evaluation for both exchanged metals shows an important decrease of Brønsted acidity and a slight increase of Lewis acidity, which are more noticeable at high degree of exchange. Instantaneous oligomerization of propene on HY zeolite at room temperature is favored by the relatively high amount of Brønsted acid sites. The propene molecules interact more strongly with Cu²⁺ than with Ag⁺. The shape of the CC stretching band of the FTIR spectra involves at least two overlapping bands indicating that the propene CC bond may interact with several kinds of Ag⁺, Cu²⁺ and Cu⁺ sites of various propene bonding.