Synthesis of nanocrystalline zeolite beta in the absence of alkali metal cations

Contrarily to previous reports, pure aluminosilicate zeolite Beta can be synthesized in the complete absence of alkali cations without the use of seeds. Thus, the presence of alkali cations is not necessary for the nucleation and crystal growth to occur, although they greatly affect the crystallization kinetics. By this synthesis method stable suspensions of colloidal zeolite Beta particles in the nanoscale size (100 to 10 nm) were prepared. It is also possible to synthesize 100% crystalline zeolite Beta with up to 7.6 framework Al atoms per unit cell (Si/Al=7.4).