However, in a number of applications, natural zeolites have inherent advantages, not the least of which is that natural zeolites cost much less than the synthetics.
Fish and Shellfish Farming: Clinoptilolite (clino) can remove ammonia in aquaculture ponds and tanks. Clino has been successfully used in biofilters, regenerable ion exchange beds and pressure filters; and will reduce fish losses thereby improving production.
Fish Hatcheries: Clino can remove ammonia for improved hatchery production and fish health. This will provide better survival rates on planting.
Commercial and Hobby Aquaria: Clino will control ammonia in display and recreational aquarium tanks; and has been proven to be totally effective.
Live Fish Transport: Clino will reduce losses and increase holding times of live fish in tanks, trucks, or bags. Transplanting fish is more successful using this technology.
Odor Control: Clino will remove animal waste odors, solve community complaints for feed lot and barn smells, and improve animal and worker health.
Confined Animal Environmental Control: Clino will improve animal health and increase production in swine, poultry and ruminants; reduce ammonia and nitrate contamination in feedlot runoff and seepage. Zoo applications have the same potential.
Livestock companies are reducing complaints from residents surrounding livestock rearing, or feeding, areas by utilizing clino to eliminate odors. At the same time they hasten the composting time of these manures and increase their fertilizer value by capturing the ammonia which becomes an available form of nitrogen in the soil. Variations of this scenario have been successful as in the treatment of sewage to upgrade it to become a soil amendment.
Livestock Feed: Adding clino to feed gives improved animal health and feed conversion efficiency. It will reduce odor from animal wastes and will provide mold prevention in the animal feeds.
Agricultural and horticultural growers have found high quality clinoptilolite possessing cation exchange capacities of 1.7 milliequivalents per gram, or more, in stabilizing ammonium and potassium in their soil systems. The crops are better able to make more efficient use of the necessary plant nutrients.
The clinoptilolite will remain active in the soil and each year will be capable of lessening the risk of root damage due to excessive amounts of ammonium in the soil after fertilizer applications.
Water Filtration Media: Clino will upgrade slow-sand filters when added as a top treatment media. It will increase the system capacity by two to four times without capital investment and will reduce maintenance cycles and costs.
Heavy Metals Removal: Clino has the capability of removing selected toxic metals from drinking water at the point of use (in the home) or at water treatment plants.
Ammonia Removal in Municipal Sewage: Clino has been proven in full-scale plants to remove ammonia in municipal effluent. The sewage plants will meet whole effluent toxicity standards with a clinoptilolite based treatment system. Clino will also eliminate methylamine concerns by effective ammonia control.
Heavy Metals Removal in Industrial Wastewaters: Clinoptilolite will remove and recover toxic lead, silver, cadmium, zinc, copper, and other metals from industrial waste and process waters.
Other Industrial Wastewaters: Clino can treat refinery and petrochemical wastewaters for ammonia removal; treat metal plating process streams to remove accumulations of ammonia, thereby reducing metal losses.
Nuclear Plant Wastewater: The ability of clino to remove radioactive cesium and strontium from contaminated nuclear plant waters has been demonstrated. The removed radioactive contaminants can later be disposed in either fused forms or other solid forms.
Radium Removal from Water and Wastewater: It has been demonstrated that clino will remove radium from uranium mine drainages, uranium mill wastewaters, and uranium mill seepages.
Radon Control: Clino will remove radium from water which is a major source of radon gas.
Household Odor Control: Clino has the ability to capture ammonia type odors in bathrooms, kitchens, nurseries, garbage cans, backyard compost; and capture odors from shoes, soiled laundry, carpets, and fabrics.
Pet Odor Control: Clino makes an excellent absorbent for cat litter odors which utilizes its ability to absorb ammonia odors and provide moisture control. Clino is an excellent horse stall odor control medium with other applications in cattle feedlots, rodeos, horse shows, etc.
Mining and Mineral Processing Wastewaters: Clino can selectively remove toxic and radioactive heavy metals from mine drainage systems, mill tailings wastewater, and mineral waste leacheates.
Contaminated Soils and Sludges: Clino can bind heavy metals to surface, or subsurface, soils to limit migration and leaching. It will enhance reclamation successes by reducing vegetation toxicity from metals contamination.
Polluted Groundwaters: Clino has the capability of removing selected metals and absorbable organics by pump and treatment technologies. Clino migration barriers can be installed for in-situ groundwater contamination control.
Air Pollution Control: Clino can capture acid gases in automobile exhaust systems and remove sulfur dioxide in industrial waste and process gases..
Rubber and Paper Additives: Clino can be used for inert fillers and extenders which often will impart special properties in new materials.
Coal Gasification: Clino will remove ammonia from synthetic natural gas products and gasification wastewaters.
Drying Agents: Clino has many different applications as a desiccant, such as in packaging moisture sensitive products. The unique property of natural zeolites to reversibly adsorb and desorb water without any chemical or physical change in the inherent zeolite structure makes them readily useful in desiccant applications.
The total water holding capacity of natural zeolites, such as clinoptilolite, is considered low relative to other desiccants when compared on the basis of weight % absorbed (13% @ 0.3 Bars compared to 10.7% @ 15.0 Bars) for clino.
Detergents: Detergent manufacturers are interested in clinoptilolite as a replacement for synthetic zeolites. About 80% to 90% of all synthetic zeolite production goes to detergent makers. Sodium A, the least expensive synthetic zeolite, used by the detergent companies, is about three times the price of a high-purity natural zeolite.