International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 15, Number 7 (2020) pp. 730-734
© Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com
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A Review of Natural Zeolites and Their Applications: Environmental and
Industrial Perspectives
Gilar Wisnu Hardi, Muhammad Artha Jabatsudewa Maras, Yori Rachmia Riva, and Siti Fauziyah Rahman*
Program Study of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia,
Kampus UI Depok 16424, Indonesia,.
Abstract
Unique and outstanding physical and chemical properties of
zeolite materials make them extremely useful in a variety of
applications, including agronomy, ecology, manufacturing, and
industrial processes. Zeolites are crystalline hydrated
aluminosilicates with physical and chemical properties,
including loss and adsorb water and other molecules that act as
molecular sieves and substitution of their constituent cations
without any structural change. In this review, we summarize
the main uses of zeolites in environmental and industrial
perspectives, including zeolite as pollutant removal,
construction, and catalyst.
1. INTRODUCTION
Cronstedt (1756) created the term "zeolite" from the Greek with
means "to boil" and "stone", for minerals that remove water
when heated [1]. Zeolites have alkali and alkaline earth cations
with crystalline hydrated aluminosilicate, open, three-
dimensional structure. This is also able to reversibly lose and
gain water and exchange extraframework cations, even without
altering the structure of crystal. The broad structural cavities
and the inlet channels contain water molecules, which form
spheres of hydration around exchangeable cations [2].
The general formula for natural zeolites is
(Li, Na, K)a(Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba)d[Al(a+2d)Sin-(a+2d)O2n]·mH2O
where the part of the square brackets reflects the framework
atoms and the part of the extraframework atoms outside the
square brackets is cations plus water molecules [1]. Once
dehydrated (or "activated"), a zeolitic phase can readsorb not
only water, but also gases, vapors, and fluids, particularly if
their molecules are polar [1].
Many zeolites naturally occur in volcanic lava flux cavities as
mineral and are mined extensively all over the world. Other
zeolites are synthetic and for commercial uses or produced for
researchers [3]. Zeolites are presented in the hardened lava
either during diagenesis due to active geothermal systems in
high heat flow areas, during the burial metamorphism of the
lava pile, or hydrothermal alteration of the continental basalts
[3].
Due to their unique properties, zeolites are used in a variety of
applications worldwide. This paper aims to give review
regarding the implementation of natural zeolites, especially in
the environmental and industrial perspectives.
2. CLASSIFICATION OF NATURAL ZEOLITE
Based on the framework structure of the natural zeolites,
Gottardi and Galli classified natural zeolites into seven groups
[1, 4]. Figure 1 shows the classification and type of natural
zeolites.
Figure 1: Classification of Zeolite