Development of Zeolite Materials as Environmental Catalysts

Environmental catalysis involves the use of catalysts to solve environmental problems, in areas such as emission abatement and environmentally benign synthesis. Many new catalysts and catalytic processes have been developed to meet the challenges posed by environmental concerns. Recently, zeolites have appeared as important materials for applications in environmental catalysis. Zeolites are aluminosilicate molecular sieves with pores of molecular dimensions. Light scattering by the zeolite is a major obstacle to its use as environmentally benign photooxidation catalysts. The pore structure and its hydrophilic/hydrophobic property of zeolite are dependent on the crystalline type of zeolite and the ratios of Si and Al atoms in the zeolite framework. Moreover, zeolites show promise for use in harsh environment gas sensors. Finally, zeolites have been successfully used to eliminate several types of liquid radioactive wastes. In this paper, we focus on the application of zeolite in harsh environment gas sensor, environmental catalysts and cleaning of radioactive wastes.