Zeolite

Microporous, aluminosilicate mineral group

Zeolites are a group of several microporous, crystalline aluminosilicate minerals commonly used as commercial adsorbents and catalysts. They mainly consist of silicon, aluminium, and oxygen, and have the general formula Mn+1/n(AlO2)−(SiO2)x･yH2O where Mn+1/n is either a metal ion or H+. The term was originally coined in 1756 by Swedish mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, who observed that rapidly heating a material, believed to have been stilbite, produced large amounts of steam from water that had been adsorbed by the material.

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