Resumen:
: The present study evaluates the feasibility of partially dealuminated natural mordenite as a
catalyst support by studying improvement in its textural properties. This is the first study that reports
the dealumination of natural zeolite-based tuffs from Ecuador. For this purpose, mordenite-rich
tuffs were obtained from deposits close to Guayaquil, Ecuador. The raw material was micronized
in order to increase its surface, and treated with NH4Cl. NH4
+
cation-exchanged samples were
finally reacted with HCl(aq) to complete the dealumination process. The partially dealuminated
samples were characterized using techniques such as XRD, FT-IR, SEM-EDS, and identification of
their textural properties. Dealumination with HCl(aq) increased the Si/Al ratio up to 9 and kept
the crystallographic structure of natural mordenite, as XRD results showed that the structure of
mordenite was not altered after the dealumination process. On the other hand, textural properties
such as surface area and microporosity were improved as compared to natural mordenite. In view of
these results, the feasibility of using natural mordenite as a catalyst support is discussed in this study
