The elevated interest in new materials as porous catalyst supports demands alternative strategies to improve yield of thesesystems through simple synthesis methodologies. In this work, different porous materials of MgO-MoO3/SBA-15 weresynthesised at air, oven and microwave conditions to investigate and identify the best method for producing high surface areaMgO-MoO3/SBA-15 catalyst. The results showed successful synthesis of mesoporous SBA-15 with homogenous dispersion ofMgO-MoO3 nanocatalyst within the SBA-15 framework. The extent of crystallisation, the pore distribution and surface areawas dependent on the crystallisation conditions adopted. The channels of the porous MgO-MoO3/SBA-15 network from theoven dry module were highly ordered, distinct and parallel. The oven drying crystallisation process module also yieldedcatalyst with surface area about ten folds higher than that of the air dry processes indicating that a given process module canbe tailored for specific industrial application. The results also suggest that longer crystallisation time at temperatures in therange of 100 oC favours the formation of uniform pore structure with high surface area.

Keywords: Catalyst, SBA-15, Mesoporous, Crystallisation, XRD, MgO, MoO3, TEM