Clinoptilolite, the most common Zeolite type!

Nearly 50 types of natural Zeolite can be found around the globe. Clinoptilolite (which belongs to the heulandite group) is the most common and most suitable natural Zeolite type for industrial, commercial and also private applications. It is a natural Zeolite comprising a microporous arrangement of silica and alumina tetrahedra. It has a very complex formula of: (Na,K,Ca)2-3Al3(Al,Si)2Si13O36·12H2O. More than 90% of the world’s Zeolite production specialises in the Clinoptilolite family. Apart from natural Zeolite, many synthetic Zeolite variations are being developed around the world for custom applications.
 

 

Currently most natural Zeolite products in the market are Clinoptilolite. However, not all Zeolite products have the same purity and a high content of Clinoptilolite. The Zeolite quality totally depends on the Clinoptilolite content since the active agent (cation exchange capability) in the mineral is the Clinoptilolite itself.
Unfortunately there are products on the market that have a Clinoptilolite content as low as 50%, in some rare cases we have seen the content as low as 40%. The remaining content of the product is regular stone or clay.
Low quality Zeolite products usually originate in China and are mostly used as aggregate. Low quality Clinoptilolite might be cheaper but cannot be compared with our high quality products which has a minimum of 85% pure Clinoptilolite.

Clinoptilolite forms a series of three different species:

• Clinoptilolite-K – heulandite-K solid solution series,
• Clinoptilolite-Na – heulandite-Na solid solution series,
• Clinoptilolite-Ca – heulandite-Ca solid solution series,

These are named after their dominant elements. These elements are exchanged during the cation exchange in favor of heavy metals, toxins, ammonia (and many more) which have a higher attraction for the mineral.
The mineral forms as white to reddish tabular monoclinic tectosilicate crystals with a Mohs hardness of 2 to 5 and a specific gravity of 2 to 2.3 (depending on origin).
When Micronized our Clinoptilolite has a specific Surface Area of up to 1934m2/kg
 

Zeolite is a truly versatile mineral.