What is Natural Zeolite?
Natural zeolites are inorganic porous minerals with crystalline structures. So far, more than 45 naturally occurring zeolite frameworks have been identified. Clinoptilolite, mordenite, analcium , chabazite, erionite, heulandite and phillipsite are the most common natural zeolites available in the market as minable resources worldwide. Iran zeolite (i.e. clinoptilolite), which is hydrated sodium potassium calcium aluminum silicate is not only the most well known, but also the most useful zeolitic mineral with many diverse industrial applications. The unique chemical structure and physicochemical characteristics of Iran Zeolite’s Clinoptilolite make it an inexpensive and environmentally safe material for several commercial applications including but not limited to:
- Agriculture, horticulture and aquaculture industries,
- Environmental cleanup processes such as decontamination of polluted water, soil and air, oil spill cleanup and radioactive waste treatment,
- Construction including lightweight construction materials,
- Industrial gas and liquid separation and purification processes, wherever an effective, low cost material is needed to bind, absorb, adsorb, or filter.
Natural zeolites act as molecular sieves to purify natural gases from impurities such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and water. In addition, natural clinoptilolites are being used to separate oxygen and nitrogen using pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process.