Catalytic performance of modified metal ion-BEA zeolite for enhanced Fenton-type reaction: Part I

Ivasiv, V.;Bertão, A. R.;Martins, A.;Nunes, N.;Carvalho, A. P.;Fonseca, A. M.;Rombi, E.;Moreira, J. N.;Baltazar, F.;Neves, I. C.

2026-01-01

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Abstract

The aim of this work was to obtain improved heterogeneous Fenton catalysts with enhanced catalytic rates through modification of BEA zeolite. BEA zeolite was chosen as the support material due to its large 12-ring reactionchannels and 3D-pore network that offer favourable conditions for metal incorporation and substrate accessibility. BEA zeolite was modified through chemical desilication followed by acid treatment and, chemical treatments. Fe, Cu, and Mn were introduced via two distinct methods: ion exchange and mechanochemical methods. The modified metal-ion BEA zeolites were characterized for their crystallinity, texture, and metal content, and then tested for the degradation of methylene blue using Fenton-type reactions. The reactions were monitored by UV-Vis spectroscopy, and the data were analysed with pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The results showed that the treatment methods had a strong impact on the properties of the zeolites and improved their catalytic performance. Chemical modification created hierarchical porosity on the zeolite support, while mechanochemical incorporation gave higher metal loading, especially for Mn (1.20 vs 0.44 wt% with ion exchange). The hierarchical FeBEA-DAT-IE catalyst showed excellent activity (kap2 =0.031 ppm􀀀1 min􀀀1) and mechanochemical Mn incorporation achieved a six-fold higher rate constant than the ventional ion exchange method. Overall, this study demonstrates that rational modification of BEA zeolite can significantly enhance Fenton catalytic performance while producing materials suitable for advanced applications including potential biomedical uses.