THERE IS ZEOLITE, BUT NO PLAN

We are all used to thinking that Azerbaijan is a rich state. It is our special pride that, despite its geographically small territory, our country has nine of the earth's 11 climatic zones - from subtropical to Alpine. Very few countries, even the biggest countries, can boast such a range of natural-economic zones. The point is to use this wealth to maximum effect for the state. But unfortunately, we do not always think about what lies on the surface. In this case, we are talking about 100 million tons and dozens of millions of cubic metres of clinoptilolite zeolite (a family of minerals which contain a high concentration of aluminosilicates with cations of potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium - author) at the Aydag deposit in Azerbaijan's Tovuz District.

As a mineral, zeolite has an unusually broad range of uses in industry and agriculture. It is used in petrochemistry to dry gases and environments, to purify drinking and technical water, eject radionuclides, improve and fertilize soil, feed animals, as a catalyst, in construction and so on. Many Azerbaijani scientists have dedicated almost all their professional lives to the study of zeolites and their practical uses. They founded the zeolite industry in Azerbaijan, and care about what our country is now making of this mineral. In their opinion, the use of zeolites can and should be expanded, we should work consistently to achieve this.

Vasif Xalilzada, the prominent Azerbaijani geologist and deputy director of the Institute of Mineral Resources, which is part of the National Service of Geological Exploration at the Azerbaijani Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, thinks that the colossal riches of the Aydag deposit in our country are not being fully exploited or, in other words, they are being used with "a tea spoon". A daughter enterprise of the international scientific-technical complex Intergeo-TETIS - the intersectoral scientific-industrial association, Azerzeolite, from which the Yeni Tech company was established - is engaged in zeolite production in Azerbaijan today. However, according to the scientist, this enterprise has limited its activity to the production of deodorizers for shoes, living rooms, kitchens, carpets, soft furniture and vehicles. It also makes bedding material for birds, hamsters and rabbits, fillers for cats, dry shampoo for dogs and cleaning and washing powders. Apart from this, the company produces painted zeolite, which is used as decorative ground for indoor plants, water purifiers for fish tanks, mineral additives for the soil of indoor plants, and dietary additives for animals.

Xalilzada, whom we can call the founder of the zeolite industry in Azerbaijan, maintains that the zeolite products being made now are negligible compared with what we could make from this mineral, not to mention the industrial sectors it could be employed in.

Zeolite boom

Everything began when the first concentrations of natural industrial zeolites were found in the 1960s in the USA. Then, in 1968, large-scale work on natural zeolites began in the former USSR in a special programme drawn up by the Ministry of Geology. As a result, a number of deposits of clinoptilolite and mordenite, with concentrations of 50-59 per cent of the main substance were discovered. By the beginning of 1974, the Aydag deposit of clinoptilolite zeolite in Tovuz District was the most interesting deposit in the USSR by quantity of resources and quality of raw materials, as well as for its physical-geographical location and degree of exploration. It is still the largest deposit in the former Soviet Union.

"It is no accident that the first away session of the scientific-technical council of the Soviet Ministry of Geology on the subject "The study of the resources of rocks containing zeolite, identification of spheres for their industrial use and the direction of further geological exploration work" was held in Baku in 1974. A decision was made to set up an experimental-industrial complex at the Aydag deposit in order to use its resources in practice. This was our goal from the very first day. Following a decision at this session, it was recommended that natural zeolite rocks should be used in the deep dehydration and purification of natural gases, hydrocarbon, distribution of oxygen and air, in oil refining and so on," the scientist said.

In the mid 1970s, natural gas was purified for the first time using industrial zeolites from Azerbaijan's Aydag deposit. This happened at the Qaradag gas refinery in Lokbatan using technology developed by the scientific research gas institute which had previously used expensive synthetic zeolite. Gas was purified in a special installation - the zeolite was loaded into special columns and then gas was blown through the zeolite. Zeolite detected moisture contained in the gas - petrol fractions, sulphur and other components. "In Azerbaijan, we can use gas which is not very pure, but it has to be purified for sale to world markets. Gas should be completely dehydrated and pure and only then can we pump it through pipelines. If we do not do that, it will freeze quickly in winter and the capacity of the pipeline will fall," Xalilzada said.

The technology proved to be flawless. The Soviet minister of the gas industry issued a special resolution obliging all new gas refineries to use only natural zeolites and old enterprises to begin using natural zeolite. "This was a great achievement. As a result a group of scientists, including Azerbaijani researcher and doctor of science Rustam Bagirov, were honoured by the Soviet Council of Ministers."

Another group of Azerbaijani specialists and the geology department of the Institute for Water Problems developed a technology for purifying drinking water from the Kura water pipeline at a powerful water purifying installation in Sabirabad. "Whereas previously, quartz sand, delivered from the Soviet Union's only deposit in the Volgograd Region, and anthracitic coal were used as filters for drinking water in the last stage of purification, natural zeolite was later used instead of these components because it had proved to be better. This installation processed 50,000 cubic metres of water through natural zeolite, supplying water to 85 population centres in Azerbaijan. This group of scientists was also honoured by the Soviet Council of Ministers. This was our great achievement."

On the basis of the first session on natural zeolites, the Azerbaijani state planning committee, which coordinated all work on zeolites at the time, started to help expand the search for new spheres in which zeolites could be used and, essentially, for major consumers. Special attention was paid to the establishment of so-called waste-free production units, which was extremely important for environmental protection. Scientists from the Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences and agricultural workers proved the possibility and effectiveness of using relatively low quality sand zeolites, not just in farming, but also as an additive to fodder for cattle, pigs, birds and so on. It was also discovered that zeolites help improve the physical properties and the water and thermal regimes of soil, increasing its moisture capacity by 12-15 per cent and reducing the physical evaporation of moisture from soil by 50 per cent. Zeolite is able to hold moisture and accumulate solar energy. When zeolite is laid in soil, fewer elements of mineral nourishment for plants are washed out and they remain in the soil in a digestible condition for a long time.

"In those years we produced about 10,000 tons of zeolite per year. This was quite a large amount. In order to set up a major industrial complex to produce zeolite raw materials and make more extensive use of it, the country's Cabinet of Ministers decided, on the initiative of the Azerbaijani state planning committee in 1993, to set up an intersectoral scientific production association called Azerzeolite on the basis of the joint venture of the State Committee for Geology and Mineral Resources and the Intergeo-TETIS MNTK. In order to accelerate the work, we did everything possible -equipment, machines, mechanisms, transport and digging machines of the experimental-industrial sector of the deposit, as well as an industrial installation to produce modified forms of zeolite were handed over by the republic's Ministry of Industry and the Gas Scientific-Research Institute to the Azerzeolite association. Further, on the initiative of the state planning committee, the Ministry of Industry handed over to the association the production areas of a separate enterprise of this department, with all its communications located near the quarry and railway. That is to say all the necessary conditions were created for highly effective work. No-one knew then that this powerful enterprise would specialize only in the production of deodorizers and decorative items, whereas zeolite can also be used in medicine," Xalilzada stressed.

Unused potential

Xalilzada does not understand why the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources is not interested in using the zeolite deposits of Azerbaijan in the country's economy and why the Institute of Geology of the National Academy of Sciences is not working on this issue. The intersectoral scientific-production association Azerzeolite was set up as part of the state committee for geology and mineral resources, i.e. a state body that was supposed to supervise this process. "Who would have thought that such a powerful complex as the State Committee for Geology would quietly give up on this business? Zeolite production could become a powerful source of non-budgetary income for the state committee itself". The issue of the inadequate practical use of this unique mineral has been repeatedly raised by scientists with government agencies, but all in vain.

"There were talks at SOCAR as well. I suggested trying the purification of gas with zeolite. I proved that this method, which was used in Azerbaijan in Soviet times, was much more profitable. Deep purification of gas using absorbent materials is much more expensive. Adsorptive purification is carried out with solid materials such as zeolite, while absorbing purification uses liquid ion-exchangers and synthetic materials such as glycolic compounds. This is what we are doing to purify gas today. This not only has a ruinous impact on the country's ecological balance, but is also economically unprofitable because the absorbents are imported from abroad. But you don't have to import zeolite. This is an eco-friendly and cheap local product. The use of zeolite involves the establishment of a special enterprise, which implies additional jobs, profitable products and more money coming into the budget."

The scientist said, regretfully, that large deposits of zeolite are not being used in Azerbaijan today. "I remember that we once sent 5,000 tons of zeolite from Azerbaijan to Kyrgyzstan for water purification. Today we find that the volume of production in Azerbaijan is just several tens or at best, several hundreds of tons per year. Azerzeolite believes that it is better to use it for fine production, medicines, cream and so on. No, no-one is saying that we should not produce these products. For God's sake. But there are millions of cubic metres of this raw material."

Moreover, Vasif Xalilzada is surprised that because of the unjustifiably high prices of zeolite additives to mixed fodder, many local farmers cannot afford them. "The price is very high and several kilograms cost hundreds of dollars, whereas in Georgia, as I found out, zeolite prices are token. If a farmer cannot buy zeolite in our country, then what can we say about the labourers? We have huge zeolite reserves. If you have enough patience and desire, you can go to this deposit yourself and pick up as much zeolite as you need. I recommend it," the prominent Azerbaijani geologist said.