Zeolite

Zeolite

Zeolites are microporous, aluminosilicate minerals commonly used as commercial adsorbents. 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 ζέω (zéō), meaning "to boil" and λίθος (líthos), meaning "stone".

As of October 2011, 201 unique zeolite frameworks have been identified, and over 40 naturally occurring zeolite frameworks are known.

Zeolites are widely used in industry for water purification, as catalysts, for the preparation of advanced materials and in nuclear reprocessing. They are used to extract nitrogen from air to increase oxygen content for both industrial and medical purposes. Their biggest use is in the production of laundry detergents. They are also used in medicine and in agriculture.