Zeolites, natural and synthetic, have been widely studied regarding their
suitability to be used in many different environmental applications worldwide. Their
unique structure of channels, cavities and cages results in large internal surface
available for a variety of reactions, which could also be applied for the protection,
improvement and also remediation of soil quality. Soil is a key component of natural
ecosystems and environmental sustainability depends largely on a sustainable soil ecosystem.
Unlike other environmental compartments (e.g., atmosphere, water) pollutants have long
residence times in soil while the overall degradation or, finally, the destruction/collapse of a soil
system and, consequently its ecosystem, could be appeared many years after the beginning of its
degradation. This is due to its capability to act as filter and natural bio-degrader for a lot of
organic and inorganic elements and compounds, capability which, however, could be exhausted
due to continuous disposal of excess nutrients, harmful and toxic compounds. Many soil
remediation techniques have been developed and applied so far; some of them include the use of
natural zeolites and mainly clinoptilolite. However, the most of the obtained results, regarding
their suitability to be used as soil amendments for remediation purposes, have been obtained
through lab experiments and small scale field applications. Regardless the limited extension of
their application on real problems of soil pollution (except the case of land application after
Chernobyl disaster), there are plenty of research works that deal with the potential of zeolites to
be included in the inventory of the effective and efficient amendments for soil remediation. Some
of these research studies, are presented in this review work aiming, not to cover the entire
literature, but to provide representative data and evidence for zeolites effectiveness also in soil
remediation. In addition, results are provided regarding the use of clinoptilolite as soil amendment
for the protection and improvement of soil quality degraded due to the disposal of Olive Oil Mills
Wastes, which were obtained from a study funded within a European LIFE project. This research
field is considered as highly innovative since it has never been studied before.
Keywords: Natural zeolites, zeolites, synthetic zeolites, clinoptilolite, faujasite,
phillipsite, soil, heavy metals, radionuclides, volatile organic compounds, VOC, soil
degradation, soil pollution, soil contamination, soil remediation, soil reclamation,
phytoremediation, in-situ, ex-situ, olive oil mills wastes.
