Commodity: Zeolite

Zeolite refers to a group of minerals that are basically hydrated calcium potassium sodium aluminosilicates in which the water is held in cavities in the lattice. The lattices are negatively charged and they loosely hold cations such as calcium, sodium, ammonium, and potassium and also water. Their ability to exchange one cation for another is known as their “cation-exchange capacity” or “CEC.” Cation-exchange capacity is a measure of the number of cations per unit weight available for exchange, usually expressed as milliequivalents per 100 grams of material. The zeolites are also referred to as “molecular sieves”, because the channel ways within the crystalline structure are extremely small and they can be used to separate large molecules from smaller molecules.

Water Filtration and Waste Water Treatment

Zeolites are used as a filter media for particulate removal. Additionally, they are used to remove nitrogen, certain organic hydrocarbons, and toxic cations such as silver, mercury, nickel, chrome, cobalt, antimony, arsenic, etc. Typical applications would include swimming pools, municipal water systems, and waste water treatment plants.

Odour Control

One of the major causes of odour around animals is the generation of ammonia from urea and manure. Essential advantages of using zeolite for odour control of cattle, hog, and poultry feed lots are as follows: it captures ammonium and prevents the formation of ammonia that causes the noxious odour, it removes moisture, it prevents the leaching of the nitrogen to the groundwater, and the ammoniated zeolite then becomes a secondary merchantable product as a fertilizer. Typical applications are for composting cattle, horse, and hog manure; poultry; cats (“kitty litter”); personal items, room air cleaners, carpet cleaning for pets, diapers; horse stalls, veterinary clinics; and bathrooms.

Air Filtrations

Zeolites have been used for the separation of gasses such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and hydrogen sulphide. Typical applications would include: enriched oxygen supplies for steel mills, smelters; re-oxygenation of downstream water from sewage plants, smelters, pulp and paper plants, fishponds and tanks; removal of carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and hydrogen sulphide from sour natural gas; removal of carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and hydrogen sulphide from methane generators such as organic waste, sanitary landfills, municipal sewage systems, animal waste treatment facilities; the removal of sulphur dioxide from stack gasses such as coal generating plants (to limit sulphur dioxide, emissions to 100ppm for EPA standards); coal gasification from underground sources for the removal of nitrogen and sulphur dioxide.