Water resource management is crucial for preventing and mitigating pollution, promoting sustainable water use, and optimizing purification processes. Adsorption using porous media plays a pivotal role in controlling the mobility, fate, bioavailability, and reactivity of pollutants. Zeolites, owing to their hydrophilic/hydrophobic characteristics, water stability, and resistance to chemical solutions, have emerged as highly promising adsorbents and are suitable for the removal of heavy metals and diverse organic compounds (e.g., pharmaceuticals, pesticides, perfluoroalkyl compounds). This presentation highlights zeolite environmental and industrial applications, emphasizing ion exchange and adsorption properties, while uncovering connections between crystal chemistry, structure, porosity.

Maura Mancinelli is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences at the University of Ferrara, where obtained her PhD in Crystallography and Mineralogy in June 2023. During her studies, she conducted research at the MackGraphe Research Center of Mackenzie Presbyterian University in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment of SLU in Uppsala, Sweden. Her major research fields include crystallography and crystal-chemistry of zeolite-like minerals and their synthetic analogues, mineral physics, environmental applications (such as zeolites for water remediation technologies), material sciences, and catalysis (such as acid sites in zeolites and crystal structures of catalyst supports).