The 8th International Zeolite Conference was held

The 8th International Zeolite Conference was held at Semnan University with the attendance of Fernando Borsato, President of the International Zeolite Association, and the support of Niyakan Sangar Industrial and Mining Group.

The 8th International Zeolite Conference was held at Semnan University on September 19-20, 2022 with the support of Niyakan Sangar Industrial and Mining Group, to develop applied research and increase interaction between academia and industry. The conference was held with major Iranian zeolite industry companies and Iranian and foreign researchers and scholars attended, including Fernando Borsato, President of the International Zeolite Association, who delivered remarks in the opening ceremony as a prominent figure in this industry.

One of the main goals of this international event was to familiarize students, researchers, and industrialists with applied and developmental research in the field of zeolite. Therefore, the organizers of this conference aimed to invite knowledge enterprises to give scientific lectures and present research papers, to provide a suitable platform for expanding demand-driven interactions and topics in this industry and orient researchers’ investigations towards applied and demand-driven areas for the industry. As a result, after the call for papers was issued, 116 scholarly articles were submitted by researchers, of which 103 papers were accepted for oral presentation and 94 papers were presented as posters after review by the academic members of the organizer. Also, 18 keynote speakers presented the results of their latest research in various areas of zeolite.

It is worth noting that in the sideline of the 8th International Zeolite Conference, 4 specialized educational workshops were held by renowned and experienced instructors with the enthusiastic participation of those interested in this field. It should be mentioned that Iran’s zeolite mines, especially in Semnan, are valuable mines with high purity and good potential for processing to increase added value and produce strategic products.

This compound has a crystalline structure of hydrated aluminum silicate and possesses valuable physicochemical properties such as cation exchange, molecular sieving, catalyst, and adsorbent. Its structure is porous, which can be increased by different processing methods to increase the surface-to-volume ratio and obtain various applications.

This valuable material has found diverse applications in absorption, reactions, construction, agriculture, soil remediation, and energy industries in recent decades. Different natural zeolites worldwide exhibit varying ion exchange capacities for different cations such as ammonium and heavy metals. In addition, some of them also can absorb anions and organic compounds. Zeolites are modified by various methods such as acid leaching and ion exchange. This increases their absorption capacity for anions and organic compounds.

In addition to the applications of natural zeolite, different synthetic zeolites have been used in various fields such as adsorbents in the water industry, catalysts in the petroleum industry, lightweight concrete and cement in the construction industries. It is worth mentioning that in recent research, natural and synthetic zeolites have been used as drug carriers in the pharmaceutical industry as well as bone scaffolds in tissue engineering in medical engineering.

Hopefully, with Iran’s progress in synthesizing various zeolites as well as processing natural zeolites, it will soon be recognized as an international hub in this field.

Niyakan Sangar Industrial and Mining Group, whose mission is to add value to mineral materials and prevent the sale of these national assets in raw form, was the sole sponsor and financial and moral supporter of this conference. With four zeolite mines with an approximate capacity of 50 million tons and an area of 25 square kilometers, state-of-the-art production and processing facilities, various research and development units, and laboratories equipped with the latest technology, this industrial and mining group has been able to take important and effective steps towards processing this valuable mineral.

In addition, according to studies by this company, various other products including mineral fertilizers, agricultural fertilizers, zeolite 4A, etc. will be offered to the market soon.

Niakan Sangsar industrial and mining group, sponsor of the 8th Zeolite Conference