NATURAL ZEOLITES
Natural Zeolites are microporous, aluminosilicate minerals which occured naturally. Zeolite means boiling stone.
Natural zeolites form where volcanic rocks and ash layers react with alkaline water. Zeolites also crystallize in post-depositional environments over periods ranging from thousands to millions of years in shallow marine basins. Over 42 naturally occurring zeolite frameworks are known.
Zeolites are hydrated aluminosilicate minerals made from interlinked tetrahedra of alumina (AlO4) and silica (SiO4). In simpler words, they're solids with a relatively open, three-dimensional crystal structure built from the elements aluminum, oxygen, and silicon, with alkali or alkaline-Earth metals (such as potassium, calcium and sodium) plus water molecules trapped in the gaps between them. Zeolites form with many different crystalline structures, which have large open pores (sometimes referred to as cavities) in a very regular arrangement and roughly the same size as small molecules.
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Zeolites have a porous structure that can accommodate a wide variety of cations, such as K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ Na+ and others. These positive ions are rather loosely held and can readily be exchanged for others in a contact solution. Some of the more common mineral zeolites are analcime, chabazite, clinoptilolite, heulandite, natrolite, phillipsite, and stilbite. These cation exchanged zeolites possess different acidity and catalyse several acid catalysis.
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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. This is due to a very regular pore structure of molecular dimensions. The maximum size of the molecular or ionic species that can enter the pores of a zeolite is controlled by the dimensions of the channels. These are conventionally defined by the ring size of the aperture, where, for example, the term "8-ring" refers to a closed loop that is built from eight tetrahedrally coordinated silicon (or aluminium) atoms and 8 oxygen atoms.
Zeolites transform to other minerals under weathering, hydrothermal alteration or metamorphic conditions.
Conventional open-pit mining techniques are used to mine natural zeolites. The overburden is removed to allow access to the ore. The ore may be blasted or stripped for processing by using tractors equipped with ripper blades and front-end loaders. In processing, the ore is crushed, dried, and milled. The milled ore may be air-classified as to particle size and shipped in bags or bulk. The crushed product may be screened to remove fine material when a granular product is required, and some pelletized products are produced from fine material.
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As of 2016 the world's annual production of natural zeolite approximates 3 million tonnes. Major producers in 2010 included China (2 million tonnes), South Korea (210,000 t), Japan (150,000 t), Jordan (140,000 t), Turkey (100,000 t) Slovakia (85,000 t) and the United States (59,000 t).
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Lava and Ashes
Reacts Alkaline Water
Natural Zeolite Occurs
