Zeolites: Occurrence, Properties, and Utilization

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Deposits".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2023) | Viewed by 7307

Special Issue Editors

Department of Mineralogy-Petrology-Ec. Geology, School of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: industrial minerals and rocks; zeolitic rocks; limestones; clay minerals; mineralogy; petrology
Department of Mineralogy-Petrology-Ec. Geology, School of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: economic geology; mineral resources; geochemistry; environment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Zeolites are hydrated tectosilicate minerals with an open three-dimensional framework consisting of silicon/aluminium tetrahedra coupled in pairs with a common oxygen (Si,Al)O4. Their characteristic feature is the presence of channels in their structure that are filled by loosely bound water molecules and exchangeable cations. The main exchangeable cations are Na+, K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+. Zeolites are found in a variety of geological environments, but the discovery of sedimentary deposits of natural zeolites from the late 1950s onwards, combined with their relatively low cost of exploitation, has led to their use in many large-scale environmental, industrial, agricultural, aquacultural and water commercial uses, such as wastewater treatment (industrial-municipal-radioactive-toxic wastewaters), improvement of drinking water quality, uptake of inorganic and organic pollutants, neutralizing pH, oxygen enrichment in gaseous and water systems, as soil conditioners and animal feed supplements, as absorbent and desiccant materials and odor controllers, reclamation of contaminated soils, neutralization of dangerous industrial solid wastes, and in the construction industry.

The aim of this Special Issue is to gather new knowledge about the deposits of natural zeolites, the type/es of zeolite/es contained, the conditions of their genesis, the variation of their quality, the characteristics, and properties of zeolites and zeolitic materials and of course their uses, new and pre-existing, based on specifications and market requirements.

Prof. Dr. Nikolaos Kantiranis
Prof. Dr. Anestis A. Filippidis

Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • natural zeolites
  • deposits
  • zeolite type
  • zeolite genesis
  • applications
  • uses

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 3621 KiB  
Article
Cd Removal from Aqueous Solutions Using a New Modified Zeolite Adsorbent
by He Zhang, Shuo Gao, Xiaoxu Cao, Jitong Lin, Jingyi Feng, Hui Wang, Hong Pan, Quangang Yang, Yanhong Lou and Yuping Zhuge
Minerals 2023, 13(2), 197; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/min13020197 - 29 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1205
Abstract
Water cadmium (Cd) pollution has widely aroused concerns due to high Cd toxicity in water bodies and its serious health risks to humans. Adsorption has been identified as an effective and widely utilized technology for water purification with heavy metal pollution. To develop [...] Read more.
Water cadmium (Cd) pollution has widely aroused concerns due to high Cd toxicity in water bodies and its serious health risks to humans. Adsorption has been identified as an effective and widely utilized technology for water purification with heavy metal pollution. To develop a newly identified adsorbent of modified zeolite that can easily and effectively purify Cd-polluted water, NaOH modification (JZ), high-temperature modification (HZ), humic acid modification (FZ), Na2S modification (SZ), and ultrasonic modification (CZ) zeolites were developed, and their appearances and adsorption and desorption characteristics were investigated. The results showed that the adsorption capacity of Cd by JZ and SZ were improved by 68.87% and 32.06%, respectively, relative to that by natural zeolite (NZ); however, HZ, FZ, and CZ decreased the adsorption capacity. JZ had a higher adsorption capacity than SZ and could remove 99.90% Cd at an initial concentration of 100 mg/L. The dominant adsorption mechanism of Cd by JZ was the chemisorption of the monolayer. The preferred temperature and pH that enhanced Cd adsorption by JZ were 25–35 °C and 4–8, respectively. With an equilibrium adsorption capacity of 9.37–9.74 mg/g at an initial concentration of 280 mg/L, JZ reached its maximum saturated adsorption capacity; compared with SZ and NZ, the adsorption capacity increase was 27.83–68.81%. The R2 fitted by JZ’s Langmuir model and quasi-second-order dynamics model were both above 0.93. In summary, JZ was recognized as a novel absorbent for Cd-polluted water purification. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Zeolites: Occurrence, Properties, and Utilization)
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30 pages, 5423 KiB  
Article
The Secondary Minerals from the Pillow Basalt of Salsette-Mumbai, Deccan Volcanic Province, India
by Berthold Ottens, Ralf Schuster and Zsolt Benkó
Minerals 2022, 12(4), 444; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/min12040444 - 04 Apr 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5074
Abstract
Secondary minerals occur within the tholeiitic basalts of Salsette Island in the greater Mumbai region, as well as in other localities in the Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP). However, the secondary minerals of Salsette Island show remarkable differences with respect to their mineral speciation [...] Read more.
Secondary minerals occur within the tholeiitic basalts of Salsette Island in the greater Mumbai region, as well as in other localities in the Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP). However, the secondary minerals of Salsette Island show remarkable differences with respect to their mineral speciation and precipitation sequence, which are both due to their unique geological environment. The greater Mumbai region is built up by the Salsette subgroup, which represents the youngest sequence of the DVP. It formed subsequently to the main phase of DVP activity in Danian time (62.5 to 61.5 Ma), in the course of the India–Laxmi Ridge–Seychelles breakup. The main part of the Salsette subgroup consists of tholeiitic basaltic flows with pillows, pillow breccia, and hyaloclastite, which formed in contact with brackish and fresh water in a lagoonal environment. In some places, intertrappeans are represented by fossiliferous shallow water sediments. On the top, trachytic and rhyolitic subaqueous volcaniclastics occur, and some dioritic bodies have intruded nearby. Due to differing fluid rock interactions, several distinctly different secondary minerals developed in the void spaces of the hyaloclastite breccia of the interpillow matrix and in the pillow cavities. The highly permeable hyaloclastite breccia formed an open system, where pronounced precipitation occurred in the early phase and at higher temperatures. In contrast, the pillow cavities were a temporally closed system and contained, for example, more low-temperature zeolites. The genesis of the secondary minerals can be summarized as follows: During initial cooling of the volcanic rocks at about 62 Ma, the first mineralization sequence developed with chlorite, laumontite I, quartz, and calcite I. Ongoing magmatic activity caused reheating and the main phase of precipitation at prehnite–pumpellyite facies conditions. During generally decreasing temperatures, in the range of 270–180 °C, babingtonite, laumontite II, prehnite, julgoldite, yugawaralite, calcite II, ilvaite, pumpellyite, and gryolite developed. The fluid contained SiO2 + Al2O3 + FeO + MgO + CaO, and minor MnO and Na2O, and was predominately mineralized by the decomposition of basaltic glass. Further temperature decreases caused zeolite facies conditions and precipitation of okenite I, scolecite, heulandite, stilbite, and finally chabazite I, in the temperature range of 180 °C to less than 100 °C. As FeO, MgO, and MnO were then absent, an interaction of the fluid with plagioclase is indicated. According to Rb-Sr and K-Ar ages on apophyllite-K, a third phase of precipitation with apophyllite-K, okenite II, and chabazite II occurred in the late Eocene to early Oligocene (30–40 Ma). The new hydrothermal fluid additionally contained K2O, and temperatures of 50–100 °C can be expected. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Zeolites: Occurrence, Properties, and Utilization)
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