For years, Zeolite has been used as a filtration media for municipal water supplies. Some municipal governments use Zeolite to to filter out waste water and storm water run-off prior to releasing the water back into the environment.
Most water softeners contain Zeolite as the active ingredient. Salt is used to regenerate the Zeolite in the water softener. Zeolite exchanges calcium ions for sodium ions. The sodium ions are are
released into the water. As the Zeolite releases all of the sodium ions, the filter will stop working, and the Zeolite must be regenerated and the sodium ions in the Zeolite must be replaced. This is where the salt come into play. The water softener will release salt into the Zeolite replacing the sodium ions in the Zeolite. When this is accomplished, the proccess is repeated.
Zeolite can be used to filter out contaminates in residential drinking water also. You can design your own filter, for a fraction of the cost of buying a commercial unit. At Absorbtion Solutions, we are presently designing a filtration system for a residential water well. We also have designed filters for a pond using a 5 gallon plastic pail, some PVC Pipe, and a little Zeolite.
