The fineness of the zeolite is crucial.
[Reading time: 2 min.]
Many zeolite products are advertised as ultrafine. I recently received a product advertised as "ultrafine" for review. It was intended for dogs. The particle size was 95 microns (µm). This means that 50% of the product is coarser than 95 microns. We certainly wouldn't call that ultrafine.
At STEINKRAFT Zeolite, we believe it's important that every customer understands the quality criteria for zeolite and can make informed decisions and choices. Ideally, customers would also be able to assess the fineness of the powder themselves by seeing or feeling it between their fingers. (I'll make a video about this so you can clearly see and feel the different particle sizes.)
There are many zeolite products with a particle size of 50 microns or larger. It's important to know that in some mining areas, the raw material is sieved, and 50-micron particles are sold as a commodity. This quality is perfectly acceptable for industrial use. However, we do not recommend these particle sizes for optimizing animal feed. This zeolite is too coarse to use as a soil amendment, unsuitable as a foliar fertilizer, far too coarse for face masks, dangerous for brushing teeth, and will most likely settle out of manure pits, causing nothing but problems.
How can you measure the grain size of rock flour and similar materials?
Cilas is the magic word. A fantastic measuring device that shows precisely what percentage of each grain size is present.
The fineness achieved through the tribomechanical grinding process
The finer the grain size, the more effective the product, meaning you need to use less.
We decided on the details together with experts and took into account the recommendation of Prof. Hecht.
Now we must say: Thank you so much and RIP. You were a great supporter and inspiration to us. And we're sure you're still watching over us.
Recommendations for zeolite grain/particle sizes
Zeolite, used as a technological additive to optimize animal feed, must be fine to effectively adsorb pollutants and mix thoroughly and homogeneously with the feed. If it is too coarse, it is ineffective because it will simply fall apart and not mix properly.
- Our STEINKRAFT zeolite for horses has a medium grain size of 24 µm.
- Professor Hecht recommended 8 µm for humans .
- Zeolite and rock flour for liquid manure : 35 µm (this was researched at the Raumberg-Gumpenstein Institute). The rock flour should not sink, but remain suspended. And at 35 µm, it floats and adheres to the suspended particles.
- Zeolite and calcium as foliar fertilizer : <8 µm. The particles must be this small to penetrate the stomatal openings and stimulate the plant's metabolism. This fineness is also ideal for physical protection, as it settles into the small crevices of the leaves where powdery mildew and other pests like to thrive.
- For the litter box : coarser granules are good in the litter box. It shouldn't be dusty.
- Zeolite as a soil amendment : please do not mix it into the soil in too large a particle size. The soil cannot utilize it effectively, or at all. Furthermore, you would need a large amount of this valuable material per hectare. The Academy recommends a particle size of 100 µm for soil amendments. In this case, 300-400 kg per hectare is sufficient.
Our recommendation: Ask to see the particle size distribution! And if you see the term "ultrafine," question it. We recently saw another "ultrafine" product and measured it at the customer's request. It had a particle size of 70 µm. That's very coarse in our opinion.
We received another product from a customer for evaluation. The gist was: "You guys know your stuff, can you tell me if this product is any good?" So we had it on site and started researching and measuring. The product label states 6-10 µg. We're not familiar with this unit. The fact is: the average particle size is 100 microns. That's much larger than what's stated on the packaging.
Why is the milling process so important when it comes to grain size?
So, why is the grinding process so important when talking about the fineness and grain size of zeolite?
Zeolite that is ground to 8 µm using conventional ball mills has been compressed for a long time to reach this particle size. Essentially, it's ground for an extended period between balls. This results in a significant amount of abrasion, which is then readily absorbed by the zeolite. The crystal lattices are full of contaminants, which is detrimental in two ways: they contain substances that don't belong there and are not naturally present.
I think that was also one of the most vehement criticisms of zeolite, namely that the raw material was already so contaminated with heavy metals due to the milling process.
Conclusion: the finer the zeolite needs to be, the more important it is that it is pulverized using tribomechanical processes . This method eliminates abrasion because the particles grind each other down.
We are the manufacturers of zeolite products ourselves. We determine the fineness and timing of the grinding process. Essentially, we pulverize the material using a special grinding method that pulverizes without any metal abrasion. We call this method Air2Air Activation Technology. Or tribomechanical, as Mr. Lelas from Croatia calls his method.
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