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Zeolite is a microporous, aluminosilicate mineral. Zeolites are widely used in industry for water purification, as catalysts and in the production of laundry detergents. They are also used in medicine and agriculture.
The Medical / Therapeutic use being a very interesting (avenue for research), in relation to detoxification and pH balancing. Together with water filtering and agriculture being more related to the lines of interest with the Energetic forum types.
The BIG game changer with this mineral however is in the application with Thermal Batteries! Coupled together with current Thermal Solar techniques, (and related technologies) this unrefined form of energy, heat and its storage could be big revolution. (A friend of mine is having a DIY go at this, stay tuned).
This thread is to act as a sort of a depository of information on Zeolite, its uses & applications that may be of interest the alternative thinker. Please add your insight, knowledge or experience with the mineral Zeolite.
Sputins.
Scientists of the German Fraunhofer Institute have harnessed a natural phenomenon to store heat indefinitely and without energy loss.
Zeolite is a mineral that can store up to four times more heat than water. And what’s better, unlike water which gradually cools off, zeolite retains a hundred percent of the heat for an unlimited amount of time.
Zeolite – which means ‘boiling stone’ in Greek- was named for its peculiar properties. Zeolite is extremely porous. So much so, that a gram of the stuff has a surface area of a 1000 square meters (10,764 sq ft). When water comes into contact with zeolite it is bound to its surface by means of a chemical reaction which generates heat. Reversely, when heat is applied the water is removed from the surface, generating large amounts of steam.
The transference of heat to the material does not cause its temperature to rise. Instead, the energy is stored as a potential to adsorb water. The Fraunhofer scientists used these particular properties to turn zeolite into a thermal storage system. They created a storage device and filled it with zeolite pellets. To charge the pellets, they exposed them to heat. To retrieve the energy they simply added water. - The discovery can give a much anticipated boost to thermal storage.
Although the unique properties of zeolite were well known, until now, no one was able to turn it into a working thermal storage system. The German researchers first tested their system with small quantities zeolite to determine whether the material would remain stable over multiple charge and discharge cycles. And it did. Even after thousands of cycles.
Now they’ve built an up-scaled version with a storage volume of 750 liters which they’re testing under realistic conditions.
Article link:
Compact and flexible thermal storage - Research News June 2012 - Topic 3
Additional resources including DIY info at the bottom of this article:
Green-Trust.Org | Zeolite Stores Thermal Energy For Unlimited Amount of Time
Tip of the Iceburg.
The Medical / Therapeutic use being a very interesting (avenue for research), in relation to detoxification and pH balancing. Together with water filtering and agriculture being more related to the lines of interest with the Energetic forum types.
The BIG game changer with this mineral however is in the application with Thermal Batteries! Coupled together with current Thermal Solar techniques, (and related technologies) this unrefined form of energy, heat and its storage could be big revolution. (A friend of mine is having a DIY go at this, stay tuned).
This thread is to act as a sort of a depository of information on Zeolite, its uses & applications that may be of interest the alternative thinker. Please add your insight, knowledge or experience with the mineral Zeolite.
Sputins.
Scientists of the German Fraunhofer Institute have harnessed a natural phenomenon to store heat indefinitely and without energy loss.
Zeolite is a mineral that can store up to four times more heat than water. And what’s better, unlike water which gradually cools off, zeolite retains a hundred percent of the heat for an unlimited amount of time.
Zeolite – which means ‘boiling stone’ in Greek- was named for its peculiar properties. Zeolite is extremely porous. So much so, that a gram of the stuff has a surface area of a 1000 square meters (10,764 sq ft). When water comes into contact with zeolite it is bound to its surface by means of a chemical reaction which generates heat. Reversely, when heat is applied the water is removed from the surface, generating large amounts of steam.
The transference of heat to the material does not cause its temperature to rise. Instead, the energy is stored as a potential to adsorb water. The Fraunhofer scientists used these particular properties to turn zeolite into a thermal storage system. They created a storage device and filled it with zeolite pellets. To charge the pellets, they exposed them to heat. To retrieve the energy they simply added water. - The discovery can give a much anticipated boost to thermal storage.
Although the unique properties of zeolite were well known, until now, no one was able to turn it into a working thermal storage system. The German researchers first tested their system with small quantities zeolite to determine whether the material would remain stable over multiple charge and discharge cycles. And it did. Even after thousands of cycles.
Now they’ve built an up-scaled version with a storage volume of 750 liters which they’re testing under realistic conditions.
Article link:
Compact and flexible thermal storage - Research News June 2012 - Topic 3
Additional resources including DIY info at the bottom of this article:
Green-Trust.Org | Zeolite Stores Thermal Energy For Unlimited Amount of Time
Tip of the Iceburg.
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