Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNCs) as Hard Templates for Preparing Mesoporous Zeolite Y Assemblies with High Catalytic Activity

Faujasite (FAU) Y zeolite assemblies with high mesoporosity (Sext. = 347 m2 g−1 and Vmeso = 0.52 cm3 g−1) were synthesised using sustainable and economic cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) via a template-directed synthesis method, i.e. CNCs-Y. In comparison with the control zeolite catalysts of the conventioanl microporous Y and carbon nanotubes templated Y (CNTs-Y) zeolites, the resulting CNCs-Y demonstrated superior performance in catalytic dealkylation with excellent activity and longevity, as well as the anti-coking ability thanks to the exceptional mesoporous features of CNCs-Y zeolites. Thereby the method and relevent CNCs-Y mesoporous zeolites based on the sustainable CNCs presented here have significant implications for being developed further for improving the sustainability of relevent catalytic processes such as fluid catalytic cracking (FCC).