Zeolites are microporous, aluminosilicate minerals commonly used as commercial adsorbents and catalysts. The term zeolite was originally coined in 1756 by Swedish mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, who observed that upon rapidly heating the material stilbite, it produced large amounts of steam from water that had been adsorbed by the material. Based on this, he called the material zeolite, from the Greek "zeo", meaning "to boil" and "lithos", meaning "stone".

Zeolites occur naturally but are also produced industrially on a large scale. Over 200 unique zeolite frameworks have been identified. Some of the more common mineral zeolites are analcime, chabazite, clinoptilolite, heulandite, natrolite, phillipsite, and stilbite.

Zeolites are the aluminosilicate members of the family of microporous solids known as "molecular sieves." The term molecular sieve refers to a particular property of these materials, i.e., the ability to selectively sort molecules based primarily on a size exclusion process.

Use of Zeolites

Due to its unique properties Zeolites have been used in a wide variety of industries such as; Petrochemical, Nuclear, Biogas, Heating and refrigeration, Detergents, Construction, Medical, Agriculture and more.

Which Zeolites does RD Fresh Use?

Clinoptilolite Download MSDS

Clinoptilolite, one of the most useful naturally occurring zeolites, is applied as a chemical sieve, food additive, as well as gas and odor absorber. Clinoptilolite can easily absorb ammonia and other toxic gases from air and water and thus can be used in filters, both for health reasons and odor removal.

Chabazite Download MSDS

Chabazite is the most important member of the 48 minerals in the zeolite group. It is the microcrystallinity of the chabazite that produces a large surface area and pore volume which promotes accelerated ion exchange and absorption rates as well as high permeability. The only known deposit of its size and purity in the world, is located at Bowie, Arizona, U.S.A. As evidenced below, the Bowie, Arizona Chabazite is often the zeolite of choice.

United States Patent # 6,042,731, titled "Method of removing arsenic species from an aqueous medium using modified zeolite minerals" was issued on March 28, 2000. The zeolite mineral that is the base element in this patent is known as Chabazite. The Chabazite used in this technology is from a deposit located at Bowie, AZ.

Union Carbide Corporation, Tarrytown, NY) marketed an AW-500 product (natural chabazite-rich tuff from Bowie, AZ) for removing HCl from reformed H2 streams H2O from Cl2, and CO2 from stack gas emissions.

NRG Corporation (Los Angeles, CA;) used a pressure-swing adsorption process with Bowie chabazite to remove polar H2O, H2S, and CO2 from low-BTU natural gas and developed a zeolite-adsorption process for purifying methane produced by decaying garbage in a Los Angeles landfill.

Montmorillonite Download MSDS

Montmorillonite absorbs water due the interlayer molecular spaces. Montmorillonite is so absorbent that it is used as a non-explosive agent for splitting rock in natural stone quarries or for the demolition of concrete structures where the use of explosive charges is unacceptable.

And Montmorillonite is safe. Montmorillonite has been used in cosmetics and has reputed therapeutic effects. Over 200 cultures have used it for medicinal purposes including the Ancient Egyptians, and natives of Mexico, South America and North America. Montmorillonite is also used in animal feeds as an anti-caking agent.