Using Taguchi Experimental Design to Develop an Optimized Synthesis Procedure of Sodalite Prepared by Microwave and Ultrasonic Assisted Aging

Perlite or pearl stone is a natural glass which has formed by rapid cooling of viscous lava or magma. Perlite is mainly composed of silica, aluminum, potassium and sodium. In this experiment, perlite was used as a low-cost source of Si and Al to synthesis of sodalite zeolite using the alkaline hydrothermal treatment. A statistical Taguchi design of experiments was employed to evaluate the effects of the process variables such as type of aging, aging time and hydrothermal crystallization time on the crystallnity of synthesized sodalite zeolite. The statistical analysis of the experimental results using Taguchi method show that the optimum conditions for maximum crystallinity of sodalite zeolite were obtained as microwave-assisted aging, 60 min aging time and 8 h hydrothermal crystallization time. The synthetic samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The results showed that the zeolite formation time was drastically reduced in the case of synthesis of sodalite zeolite using microwave assisted aging.