ABSTRACT
Zeolites were discovered in 1756 by the Swedish mineralogist Axel Friedrik Cronstedt [1], who recognized in the mineral stilbite (the first reported zeolite) a new class of hydrated aluminosilicates of the alkali and alkaline earths. He observed that upon rapidly heating stilbite produced large amounts of steam from water that had been adsorbed by the material. Hence, Cronstedt called the mineral a ‘zeolite’ (derived from two Greek words, meaning boiling stone). From that date on, several authors have described the properties of zeolite minerals, including their adsorption properties and reversible cation exchange and dehydration. In 1932 McBain coined the term ‘molecular sieve’, defining porous solid materials that act as sieves on a molecular scale [2]. Richard M. Barrer [3–5] began his pioneering work in zeolite adsorption and synthesis in the decade from 1930 to 1940. He presented the first classification of zeolites based on molecular size considerations in 1945. In 1948, he reported the first definitive synthesis of zeolites.
