Question

Where does Zeolite come from?

Answer 1

Zeolite:

• Zeolites are microporous, three-dimensional crystalline solids of aluminium silicate.
• Zeolites have small openings of fixed size in them which allow small molecules to pass through them easily but larger molecules cannot pass through them; that is why they are sometimes called molecular sieves.

Occurrence of Zeolite:

Zeolite occurs naturally in nature but can be produced industrially on a very large scale.

Natural zeolites

• The reaction of volcanic rocks and ash with groundwater produces Zeolites.
• Example: Clinoptilolite (Clino) zeolite have silica to alumina ratio of 5 to 1 ratio.

Artificial zeolites:

• Synthetic zeolites are usually synthesized by a process of slow crystallization of a silica-alumina gel in the presence of alkalis and organic templates.
• Synthesized zeolite will have a silica to alumina ratio of 1 to 1.
• Example: Linde A