Zeolites used in Oxygen Production 

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• National carrier Air India has begun the first of its “zeolite cargo flights” with the government of India has commenced the process of importing zeolite from across the world for use in medical oxygen plants. 

Key Points: 

• Zeolites are aluminosilicate minerals. They are microporous materials that are used as adsorbents and catalysts. 

• The Zeolites are naturally formed when the volcanic rocks react with alkaline groundwater. They also crystallize in marine basins for thousands to millions of years.

• Under the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund, the DRDO is to set up these medical oxygen plants. The technology being developed by the DRDO uses the pressure swing adsorption process and molecular sieve zeolite in oxygen generation. 

Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) 

• Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is a technology used to separate some gas species from a mixture of gases under pressure according to the species’ molecular characteristics and affinity for an adsorbent material. 

• It operates at near-ambient temperatures and differs significantly from cryogenic distillation techniques of gas separation. 

• Specific adsorbent materials (e.g., zeolites, activated carbon, molecular sieves, etc.) are used as a trap, preferentially adsorbing the target gas species at high pressure.