CHAPTER 2: Materials and methods

32 2. Materials and Methods Aluminophosphate materials were used as catalysts in this study for various reactions. In particular, AlPO-5, SAPO-5, SAPO-34 and VPI-5 aluminophosphate zeotypes were used. Cobalt and Manganese substituted forms of these zeotypes were used which were prepared by the hydrothermal method in presence of salts (acetate or nitrate) of these metals. These materials were characterized by X-Ray diffraction (crystallinity and phase identification), Scanning electron microscopy (crystal structure and morphology determination), N2-BET surface area measurement (surface area and pore size determination), Energy dispersive spectroscopy (quantitative analysis of elemental composition) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to determine the chemical bonding and nature of acidic sites.