Data in Brief 20 (2018) 90–95
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Data in Briefn Corr
nn Cor
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ddodoo
https://
2352-34
(http://cjournal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/dibData ArticleDataset on the comparison of synthesized and
commercial zeolites for potential solar
adsorption refrigerating system
A.R. Sowunmi a,d,n, C.O. Folayan a, F.O. Ana afi , O.A. Ajayi b,
N.O. Omisanya c, D.O. Obada a,n, D. Dodoo-Arhin e,f,nn
a Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
b Department of Chemical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
c National Automotive Design and Development Council, Zaria, Nigeria
d National Universities Commission, 26, Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria
e Department of Material Science and Engineering, University of Ghana, Legon-Ghana
f Institute of Applied Science and Technology, University of Ghana, Legon-Ghanaa r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 19 April 2018
Received in revised form
11 July 2018
Accepted 23 July 2018
Available online 26 July 2018esponding authors.
responding author at: Department of Mate
ail addresses: arsowunmi@nuc.edu.ng (A.R.
-arhin@ug.edu.gh (D. Dodoo-Arhin).
doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2018.07.040
09/& 2018 The Authors. Published by Else
reativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).a b s t r a c t
The purpose of this dataset is to provide a comparison between
synthesized and commercial 4A and 13X type zeolites. Metakaolin
produced from the calcination of beneficiated kaolin at 750 °C for
4 h was dealuminated using sulphuric acid to get the required
silica to alumina ratio for the zeolite synthesis. Zeolite 4A and 13X
samples were characterized along-side with the commercial var-
iants using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD),
Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) and scanning electron micro-
scopy (SEM) techniques. These analyses revealed that, the zeolites
synthesized are of comparatively acceptable quality. The pore size
of 120.859 nm, pore volume of 0.0065 cm3/g and surface area of
22m2/g were obtained from BET analyses for zeolite 4A synthe-
sized from kaolin, while the commercial zeolite 4A used as control
gave pore size of 58.143 nm, pore volume of 0.2462 cm3/g and
surface area of 559.13m2/g. In the same vein, the pore size of
10.5059 nm, pore volume of 0.135847 cm3/g and surface area of
324.584m2/g were obtained from BET analyses for zeolite 13Xrials Science and Engineering, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.
Sowunmi), doobada@abu.edu.ng (D.O. Obada),
vier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
A.R. Sowunmi et al. / Data in Brief 20 (2018) 90–95 91
M
S
H
D
E
E
D
D
synthesized from kaolin, while the commercial zeolite 13X gave
pore size of 7.2752 nm, pore volume of 0.135951 cm3/g and surface
area of 310.0906m2/g.
& 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open
access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Specifications TableSubject area Engineering
ore specific
subject areaAdsorbents in a solar adsorption cooling systemubject area Tables and Figures
ow data was
acquiredXRF, XRD, SEM and BET techniquesata format raw values of XRF and BET, images and patterns of SEM and XRD
xperimental
factors1. Beneficiation to remove impurities from Kankara Kaolin. 2. Calcination of
beneficiated kaolin at 750 °C for 4 h to produce metakaolin. 3. Dealumination
of metakaolin 4. Gel formation and aging 5. Crystallization of aged product in
an oven. 6. Analytical experimentation of synthesized and commercial 4A and
13X type zeolitesxperimental
featuresMetakaolin was produced from the calcination of beneficiated kaolin at 750 °C
for 4 h and was dealuminated using sulphuric acid (96wt/vol%) to get the
required silica to alumina ratio for the zeolite synthesis.ata source
locationDepartment of Mechanical Engineering Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria,
Nigeria.ata accessibility Data is available within this articleValue of data
● It is important to promote the local content, hence a need to compare zeolites synthesized from
locally sourced clay and commercial zeolites. This will ascertain if local production of the zeolites is
to be encouraged.
● The comparison of the zeolites (synthesized and commercial) in terms of the crystallinity and
structure, elemental composition and morphology elucidated by XRD, XRF and SEM are of great
importance.
● Pore sizes, volumes and specific surface areas further highlighted the potential application of the
synthesized zeolites 4A and 13X as compared to the commercial zeolites 4A and 13X for continuous
adsorption cooling systems.1. Data
The dataset presented in this paper for XRD as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 is the text file format plotted for
the locally synthesized and commercial zeolites. The morphology of zeolites presented in Figs. 4 and 5 is
at a magnification of 10.0 kx for locally synthesized and commercial zeolites (4A and 13X). The XRF
(Tables 1 and 2) and BET data (Tables 3 and 4) presented are elemental composition and surface area
analysis results for locally synthesized and commercial zeolites respectively.
92 A.R. Sowunmi et al. / Data in Brief 20 (2018) 90–95
Procurement of local 
Kankara kaolin clay
Wet beneficiation of 
Kankara kaolin
Fusion of kaolin with 
Calcination of Kaolin NaOH powder at       
o
at 800 oC 200 C for 4h
Gel formation and Addition of fused material in 
Ageing for 24 h distilled water before agitation
at 50 oC for 2 h at 800 r/min
Crystallization at
temperature of 
90 oC for 4h Crystallization of mixture at 
90 oC for 8 h and stirring at 
300 rev/min
Washing, filtering 
and drying
Washing, filtering and drying
Zeolite 4A Zeolite 13X
Fig. 1. Flow diagram of the synthesis of Zeolites 4A and 13X from Kankara Kaolin.
 Syn Z4A
 Comm Z4A
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
2 theta (o)
Fig. 2. Comparative XRD spectra of zeolite 4A (synthesized and commercial).
Intensity (a.u)
A.R. Sowunmi et al. / Data in Brief 20 (2018) 90–95 93
 Comm 13X
 Syn 13X
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
2 theta (o)
Fig. 3. Comparative XRD spectra of zeolite 13X(synthesized and commercial).
Fig. 4. SEM micrograph of (a) zeolite 4A from Kankara kaolin (b) commercial zeolite 4A.
Intensity (a.u)2. Experimental design, materials, and methods
A schematic of the experimental procedure of locally synthesized zeolite 4A and 13X is presented
in Fig. 1 [1].
XRD patterns of the zeolites (synthesized and commercial) were collected on an Empyrean dif-
fractometer (PANalytical BV, Netherlands) with theta/theta geometry, operating a Cu Kα radiation
tube (λ¼1.5418 Å) at 40 kV and 45mA. The XRD patterns of all the randomly oriented powder
specimens were recorded in the 5.0– 60° 2θ range with a step size of 0.017° and a counting time of 14
s per step. The surface morphology of the zeolites (synthesized and commercial; 4A and 13 ) was
carried out on an ultra-high vacuum and high resolution MAIA3 TESCAN scanning electron micro-
scope operated at 15 kV. In addition, the zeolite samples were analyzed using a Micrometrics TriStar
3000 gas adsorption instrument which calculated the BET surface area. The surface area of the
94 A.R. Sowunmi et al. / Data in Brief 20 (2018) 90–95
Fig. 5. SEM micrograph of (a) zeolite 13X from Kankara kaolin (b) commercial zeolite 13X.
Table 1
Elemental composition of zeolite 4A from kaolin, commercial zeolite 4A and reference zeolite 4A.
Composition (wt%) Syn 4A Comm 4A Reference 4A
Na2O 13.777 12.601 12.60
MgO 0.316 0.215 0.23
SiO2 49.719 55.695 35.90
Al2O3 34.673 30.645 31.19
K2O 0.187 0.239 0.400
TiO2 0.039 0.013 2.01
Fe2O3 0.664 0.059 1.13
Si/Al 2.440 3.090 2.000
Syn-synthesized; Comm-commercial; Reference zeolite 4A [3]; Si/Al – silica/alumina ratio.
Table 2
Elemental composition of zeolite 13X from kaolin, commercial zeolite 13X and reference zeolite 13X.
Composition (wt%) Syn 13x Comm 13X Reference 13X
Na2O 9.757 15.930 12.49
MgO 0.502 0.8035 ND
SiO2 55.099 53.7975 49.28
Al2O3 30.180 28.580 30.17
K2O 0.400 0.0360 ND
TiO2 0.069 0.3660 ND
Fe2O3 0.836 2.080 ND
Si/Al 3.110 3.200 2.770
ND: Not detected; Syn-synthesized; Comm-commercial; Reference zeolite; Reference 13X – [4]. Si/Al – silica/alumina ratio.
Table 3
BET data of synthesized and commercial zeolite 4A.
BET analyses Syn 4A Comm 4A
Pore size (nm) 12.086 58.143
Specific surface area (m2/g) 22 559.13
Pore volume (cm3/g) 0.0065 0.2462
A.R. Sowunmi et al. / Data in Brief 20 (2018) 90–95 95
Table 4
BET data of synthesized and commercial zeolite 13X.
BET analyses Syn 13X Comm 13X
Pore size (nm) 10.5059 7.2752
Specific surface area (m2/g) 324.584 310.0906
Pore volume (cm3/g) 0.135847 0.135951samples was measured by nitrogen adsorption at 196.15 °C. Prior to analyses, the samples were
degassed in vacuum at 105 °C for 12 h. The specific surface area was calculated using the Brunauer-
Emmett-Teller (BET) method [2].Acknowledgement
The authors wish to thank the Petroleum Technology Development Fund(PTDF) Professorial Chair
of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, for providing the
facilities that enabled this study.Transparency document. Supporting information
Transparency data associated with this article can be found in the online version at https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.dib.2018.07.040.References
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