Abstract: NES-type zeolite exhibits promising application prospects in reactions such as disproportionation and transalkylation, owing to its unique structure comprising 10-membered ring channels and 12-membered ring cavities. However, its synthesis suffers from long crystallization time, poor reproducibility, and the reliance on expensive organic structure-directing agents. In this work, EUO-type zeolite was used as seed shorten the crystallization time of NES zeolite. The resulting zeolite crystals exhibit a rectangular platelet-like morphology (0.2 μm × 1 μm) and a high acid amount (total acid amount: 1094 μmol/g, with a medium strong acid amount of 438 μmol/g). The influences of seeds were systematically investigated, and the catalytic performance of the NES zeolites in disproportionation of toluene were examined. The use of EUO-type zeolite as seed showed advantages including a wide synthesis phase region, shortened crystallization time, and controllable crystal phase. The obtained NES-E zeolite exhibits a high toluene conversion (34.3%).

Key words: zeolite, NES structure, EUO structure, seed-directed method, toluene disproportionation