An Experimental Investigation on External Surface Area of Surfactant-modified Zeolite

The external surface area of raw zeolite and surfactant-modified zeolite (SMZ) was measured using BET method. The experimental results showed that the external surface area of raw zeolite at 4~6 mesh, 8~14 mesh, 14~40 mesh and 80~100 mesh was 13.82 m²/g, 13.44 m²/g, 14.28 m²/g and 14.32 m²/g respectively. While for the SMZ, the external surface area was significantly lower than that of the raw zeolite, was 6.79 m²/g, 5.88 m²/g, 5.57 m²/g, 4.18 m²/g respectively. The surface character of raw zeolite and SMZ were examined with tapping-mode atomic force microscopy (TMAFM). TMAFM images showed that the surfactant resulted in the decreasing of the surface area of the SMZ.