Steam-assisted crystallization of highly dispersed nanosized hierarchical zeolites from solid raw materials and their catalytic performance in lactide production

steam-assisted crystallization from ball-milled solid raw materials. Thanks to the sufficient mixing of solid raw materials and favorable migration of solid mixture, nanosized Beta zeolites are obtained that are assembled from nanoparticles (∼15 nm) and possess abundant interconnected intraparticle mesopores. The strategy can also be extended to synthesize nanosized hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolites. The as-prepared Beta zeolite (Si/Al = 10) exhibits outstanding catalytic performance in conversion of lactic acid to lactide (as high as 77.5% in yield). This work provides avenues for simple and cost-efficient synthesis of highly dispersed nanosized hierarchical zeolites, promising their important catalytic applications.