Role of Recrystallization in Alkaline Treatment on the Catalytic Activity of 1‐Butene Epoxidation

Abstract Two alkylol amines, which were ethanolamine (EOA) and triethanolamine (TEOA), were used to posttreat nanosized titanium silicalite‐1 (TS‐1) to improve its catalytic activity for 1‐butene epoxidation. Comparative studies were conducted to clarify the influences of the EOA and TEOA concentrations on the physicochemical properties through detailed characterization. EOA treatment can dissolve the framework Si, [SiO 4 ], on the external surface of TS‐1, generating some macropores. TEOA serves as structure‐directing agent to form MFI topology other than the dissolution of [SiO 4 ], and promotes the recrystallization of [SiO 4 ], forming new TS‐1 particles over the external surface. The two treatments can both improve the catalytic activity of 1‐butene epoxidation, but the samples treated with TEOA exhibit better catalytic stability. This can be attributed to the characteristic recrystallization of [SiO 4 ] in the case of TEOA treatment, stabilizing the structure of TS‐1 and maintaining more framework Ti and intercrystal space.