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 2012, 206 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.
