Welcome to the IZA Website

The International Zeolite Association (IZA) was organized in 1973 at the 3rd International Molecular Sieve Conference to promote and encourage the development of all aspects of zeolite science and technology.

 


Latest News
12-Aug-19
Boris V. Romanovsky (1933- 2019)
Professor Boris Vasil’evich Romanovsky, from the department of physical chemistry and laboratory of kinetics and catalysis of the Lomonosov University of Moscow, Russia, passed away on 27 July 2019 at the age of 86. The life of Boris Romanovsky is an example of selfless service to his work. He dedicated to the Faculty of Chemistry seven decades of his life, trained dozens of generations of students, 37 graduate students and 6 doctors of science and professors. Boris V. Romanovsky made a remarkable contribution to domestic and worldwide molecular sieve science. He was a pioneer in the preparation of Red-Ox catalysts via the topological heterogeneization of mono and multinuclear metallocomplexes in porous materials and he led the field of ship-in-the-bottle compounds in zeolites. For many decades, he remained a renowned and influential expert and a leader in the field of zeolites for his colleagues at any level - from graduate students to academicians.
We will fondly remember Boris Romanovsky as a model of intelligence and benevolence. His passion in science, his talent to teach and to mentor others will always live in our memory.

News from the IZC-19 in Perth
31-Jul-19Seven new Council members were elected:

Tina Düren (UK)
Zhongmin Liu (China)
Svetlana Mintova (France)
Masaru Ogura (Japan)
Yong Ki Park (Korea)
Jeffrey Rimer (USA)
Michael Stockenhuber (Australia)

The new executive committee of the IZA council is:

Martin Hartmann, President
Zhongmin Liu, Vice-President
Heloise Pastore, Secretary
Jeffery Rimer, Treasurer   

International Zeolite Conference (IZC)

At a Business Meeting, the IZA Board selected the venue for the 22nd IZC in 2025:
Dalian, China        
            
The next IZC will be held in 2022 in Valencia, Spain.   

IZA Awards

IZA Honorary Memberships were given to:                          

Christian Baerlocher
of the ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
for the renowned contribution to the structural chemistry of zeolites  and for the devoted service to the design and maintenance of the Database of Zeolite Structure.

Giuseppe Bellussi
Eni SpA, Italy
for the outstanding contribution to zeolite science and technology and for the great service as President of the IZA.

Takashi Tatsumi
of the Tokyo University of Technology, Tokyo, Japan                                                         
for the outstanding contribution to zeolite synthesis and catalysis and for the dissemination of zeolite science.

The new IZA Ambassador, the recepient of the 2019 IZA award is:

Wilhelm Schwieger
of the University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
for important contributions to zeolite science and technology resulting in commercial applications of zeolites.

The first Young Researcher Award (YRA) of the Iinteranational Zeolite Association has been attributed to:

Manuel Moliner
of the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ), Valencia, Spain
for novel synthesis methods to obtain nanosized zeolites and to control active sites distribution in zeolite catalysts.

The award is sponsored by ExxonMobil

The 2019 Don Breck Award has been attributed to the team:

Stephen K. Brand, Joel E. Schmidt, Michael W. Deem, Frits Daeyaer, Yanhang Ma, Osamu Terasaki, Marat Orazov, Mark E. Davis

for the discovery of enantiomerically enriched STW zeolite.

2019_Awardees

 The IZA president Valentin Valtchev (middle) with Manuel Moliner (left) recipient of the Young Researcher Award

 and Mark Davis (right) recipient of the 2019 Don Breck Award.
Congratulations from the IZA to our esteemed colleagues!

20-Jun-19Alberto Alberti (1938 - 2019)
Alberto Alberti suddenly passed away on June 7th, 2019, two days from his 81st birthday. Alberto has been a major pillar of the community of natural zeolites and of crystallography of zeolites. Called by Glauco Gottardi to the Institute of Mineralogy of the University of Modena in 1966, he was an early developer of modern treatment of crystallographic data. He moved in 1986 to the University of Sassari and in 1989 to the University of Ferrara, where he started a successful school of crystallography.                     
In the field of natural zeolites, his name is connected to the discovery and structural refinement of a number of new minerals, from barrerite to gottardiite, terranovaite and mutinaite. Throughout his career, he built bridges between the communities of natural and synthetic zeolites, showing the structural identity of many synthetic zeolites and their natural analogs. He brought fundamental contributions to the crystallochemistry of zeolites, shedding new light on the mechanisms of reconstructive phase transitions and of mobility of cations and acidic protons, improving the understanding of the properties of zeolites and aluminophosphates.              
His dedication to the zeolite community motivated his active participation to the instances of the International Zeolite Association, the International Mineralogical Association and the Associazione Italiana Zeoliti. The number of students who have been induced by his example to endeavour careers in research and teaching is the best witness of his capacity of transmitting his passionate love for science. The colleagues and students of Alberto will fondly remember his kindness, his human warmth and his commitment to help alleviating any human suffering.

6-Mar-19News from the Italian Zeolite Association
The AIZ-CIS-GIC Joint Meeting 2019 will honor the great Italian Scientist, Dr. Giuseppe Bellussi (Senior Vice President R&D Energy Transition Program in the Development, Operations & Technology division of the Eni Company) for his outstanding contribution to the  Zeolite Science and Technology.

1-Mar-19New reports from the Natural Zeolite Commission
Two new reports concerning the sedimentary zeolite deposits in Bulgaria and in Jordan have been put online in the Natural Zeolite Commission website.



7-Feb-19Harry Edwin Robson (1927 - 2019)
It is with great sadness that we must report that Dr. Robson, a former employee of Exxon and renowned expert in zeolite synthesis, passed away on January 18, 2019.
Harry Edwin Robson was born on 19, 1927 near Burlington, USA. He earned a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in Kansas University. He moved to Baton Rouge in 1957 to join the research lab at Esso (later Exxon), remaining there until his first retirement in 1986. He spent the next six years consulting in the chemical industry and teaching at LSU. He was a pioneer in the field of zeolite synthesis, and he was instrumental in the formation of the International Zeolite Association. With his colleagues, he compiled and edited three books on zeolite synthesis.
The zeolite community and in particular the synthetic chemists will continue to enjoy his  legacy for many years to come.

4-Feb-19Stefan Ernst (1960 - 2019)
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Professor Stefan Ernst. This is truly a loss for the worldwide community of chemical technology and zeolite science in particular. Stefan Ernst studied Chemical Engineering in Karlsruhe, obtained his Ph.D. in Oldenburg with Jens Weitkamp and finished his habilitation at the University of Stuttgart.  Since 1997, he has been Professor of Chemical Technology at TU Kaiserslautern.
Stefan Ernst is known as one of the pioneers of zeolite science in Germany. He has made outstanding contributions to the synthesis of zeolites and their application in industrial catalysis. A landmark example is the synthesis of phase-pure ZSM-20 in 1987. Moreover, he introduced the spaciousness index to characterize the effective pore width of bifunctional zeolites via a catalytic test reaction. Stefan published more than 150 papers in particular on zeolite-based ship in the bottle catalysts as well as hydrocarbon isomerization and cracking. He established ethylbenzene disproportionation as a standard reaction for the characterization of acid zeolites.
Moreover, Stefan was closely connected with scientific organizations such as DECHEMA, the German Zeolite Association and the German Catalysis Society. He served on the board of the International Zeolite Association (IZA) und was chair of its catalysis commission. He organized and contributed to many national and international conferences in the fields of zeolites and petrochemistry.
Whenever we met him, we could feel his passion for zeolites and catalysis. His large profound knowledge and friendly encouragement made him a well-respected advisor for students, co-workers, colleagues and industrial partners. We will certainly memorize his ability of networking and connecting people across regions, cultures, faculties and generations. His unselfishness, kindness, strong support and knowledgeable advice will surely be missed by the zeolite community.

17-Dec-18
News from the IZA board: a Young Researcher Award established
The IZA established a Young Researcher Award with the objective to recognize the young active researcher for outstanding contribution to the Science and Technology of zeolites and related nanoporous materials.
The award, a plaque, will be given to an individual not a group, during the banquet of the International Zeolite Conference. The sponsorship, in the amount of $ 10000, is assumed by ExxonMobil and presented at each IZC conference. A representative of ExxonMobil will personally hand over the award and congratulate the winner.
The first award Young Researcher Award will be given during the 19th IZC in Perth, Australia.
More information can be found in the IZA protocole for the Young Researcher Award.

22-Nov-18Nominations for the 2019 Donald W. Breck Award invited
The Breck Award nomination committee invites nominations for the 2019 Donald W. Breck Award. This award is for the most significant contribution to Molecular Sieve Science and Technology made between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2018 and the winner will be announced on July 11, 2019 at the 19th IZC in Perth, Australia.

The award may be given to an individual or to a group.

The nomination should be accompanied by a list of references and a 2 page summary outlining in detail the novel findings and their scientific merit. It must be endorsed by five established zeolite scientists.

Nominations should be sent by March 1, 2019 to the Chair of the Breck Award Committee:
Dr. Stacey Zones
Chevron Energy Technology Company
E-mail: SIZO@chevron.com

1-Nov-18News from the MOF commission
We are soliciting nominations for at least four new positions on the International Zeolite Association Commission on Metal-Organic Frameworks (http://www.iza-online.org/MOF/).  A vote will be held amongst delegates at the MOF2018 conference, and the successful candidates announced at this meeting.  If you are interested in this role, or know a colleague who may be interested, please email the Commission chair Russell Morris (rem1@st-andrews.ac.uk). Russell may also be contacted for further information about the process or the role.


6-Oct-18Proposals for the organization of the 21st International Zeolite Conference
The IZA Executive Council is soliciting proposals for organizing the 21st IZC to be held in 2025. A proposal should contain sufficient detail, including the specific proposed conference location, to permit a reasonable evaluation of its merits, and must contain the name of a person who agrees to become the Conference Organizer, if the IZA council would select the proposal. The time schedule for this process is shown schematically below.

Selection of the venue for the 21st IZC:

A

B

C

19th IZC
July 7-12
2019

 2 months

 2 months

2 months

   

Letter of Interest

Applicants fill in questionnaire

Council preselects best bids

Applicants prepare presentaion

A: Those who plan to submit a bid for the 21st IZC should send a letter of intent to the IZA President (valentin.valtchev@ensicaen.fr) or the IZA Secretary (lolly@iqm.unicamp.br) at least six months before the 19th IZC. It should contain the name of the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, the Members of the Organizing Committee and the envisaged venue and date for the 21st  IZC. The  Organizing Committee is expected to include well-established academics in the field of zeolite-type materials. Upon receipt of the letter of intent, the Secretary shall send the detailed questionnaire "Proposal for the Organization of the 21st IZC to be held in 2025” to the applicant.

B: This questionnaire, properly filled in and signed, must be received by the President and Secretary at least four months before the 19th IZC. All bids received by this date are distributed to the IZA Council members.

C: The Council will finalize the pre-selection two months before the 19th IZC. The IZA President will notify all those who submitted bid(s) of the outcome of the pre-selection and the date for the presentation to the IZA Council. This gives the successful applicants two months to prepare their presentations for the Business Meeting at the 19th IZC. At the IZA Council meeting, after the presentations of the pre-selected proposals, the IZA Council will vote for the selection of the final winner. The winner will be announced at the closing Business Meeting at the 19th IZC.

13-Apr-18Garcia Martinez receives the Kathyrin Hach Award
The 2018 entrepreneurship ward of the American Chemical Society was attributed to Prof. Javier Garcia-Martinez (Rive Technology) for the commercialization of mesoporous zeolites.

Congratulations from the IZA to our esteemed colleague!

ACS entrepreneurship ward

9-Apr-18Jiři Čejka receives the Werner von Siemens Award 
Prof. Jiři Čejka and his group received the prestigious Werner von Siemens Award (Czech Republic) for their work on the ADOR chemistry.

Congratulations from the IZA to Jiři Čejka and his group!

Photo of Jiri Ceika group

23-Dec-17News from the MOF Commission

The MOF commission of the IZA would like to solicit bids to host the 7th International MOF meeting, which is scheduled to take place in 2020. The deadline for bids will be October 1st, 2018 and the decision will be made during the 6th International MOF meeting to be held in December 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand. Further information on what is required for a bid can be found by clicking here. The required documentation should be e-mailed to Russell Morris (rem1@st-andrews.ac.uk) by the above date.

17-Nov-17News from the Natural Zeolites Commission

A comprehensive report on the sedimentary zeolites of Cuba is posted on the Natural Zeolite Commission website.

         
25-Aug-17Gérard Férey (1941 - 2017)

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Professor Gérard Férey, one of the pioneers of metal-organic framework chemistry.

Gérard was born in Normandy in 1941 and began his scientific career at the University of Le Mans in the 1960s. Initially, he was a solid-state fluorine chemist but his interest in microporous materials began with his work on fluorophosphate open framework solids and his synthesis if the ULM-n series of compounds, and his pioneering Secondary Building Unit (SBU) approach of crystalline porous solids. In 1996 he moved to the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and founded the Institute Lavoisier de Versailles. It was here that he began his work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and his laboratory produced some of the most iconic MOFs including the flexible MIL-53 and MIL-88, and highly porous frameworks such as MIL-100 and MIL-101. Throughout the latter part of his career he was a strong supporter of the zeolite and MOF communities, and in particular his efforts to ensure that MOFs became recognised by the IZA. 

Gérard received many awards during his long career; he was awarded France’s highest scientific honour, the gold medal of the CNRS in 2010, and was inducted into the Ordre National de la Légion d'honneur – France’s highest civil award. Gérard Férey’s legacy and his commitment to the community will be felt by all followers of microporous materials for many years to come.

15-Aug-17 News from the Structure Commission
    Several features have been added to the Database of Zeolite Structures recently.
      The origin of the type material name and the derivation of the associated three letter code has been added to the Type Material page.
      The number of topologically distinct T-atoms in the idealized framework structure has been added as a search option on the Advanced Search/Channel System page.
      The dropdown menus now work on mobile devices as well.
    Older framework drawings are being replaced by newer ones as time permits (42 done so far).
   
18-Jul-17 The Structure Commission has approved three new Framework Type Codes
    -IFT   Type material: ITQ-53
SWY   Type material: STA-20
EWS   Type material: EMM-26
   
23-Jun-17 18th IZC meeting report has been posted on the History site of the IZA
    Prof. Carmine Collela has posted the report of the 18th IZC meeting (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) on the IZA History website (see the Navigation bar to the left).
   
21-May-17 News from the Synthesis Commission
    The IZA Synthesis Commission has prepared the 3rd Edition of the book “Verified Syntheses of Zeolitic Materials” (ISBN-10: 0-692-68539-1) in order to enlarge the existing collection and to include new materials of interest to the zeolite research community. The introductory articles revealed the most important developments from the last decade associated with synthesis, characterization and application of zeolites.
   
21-Mar-17 News from the Structure Commission
    The Structure Commission has launched a fully revised version of the Database of Zeolite Structures.
We thank Christian Baerlocher and all the colleagues involved in the permanent evolution of the database.
   
6-Dec-16 Avelino Corma receives the 2016 Spiers Memorial Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry
    Prof. Corma was recognized for the introduction of new concepts for the synthesis of microporous and mesoporous inorganic materials and their application in heterogeneous catalysis, which have resulted in an extensive range of industrial applications.

Avelino - RSC award 2016

Congratulations from the IZA to our esteemed colleague!
   
31-Oct-16 The Structure Commission has approved a new Framework Type Code
    ETL   Type material: H-EU-12
   
27-Oct-16 News from the Structure Commission
    The Database of Zeolite Structures has been updated and modernized. The database has been migrated from FileMaker to MySQL and the query language changed from xsl to php.
The four university servers have been replaced with three commercial virtual servers (vServers) that are located in Europe, Asia and North America to give a better geographical distribution of service. These three servers will be maintained by Christian Baerlocher and Lynne McCusker (Zurich), Wei Wan and Xiaodong Zou (Stockholm) and Christine Kirschhock and her team (Leuven), respectively. The changes ensure the future of the Database of Zeolite Structures for the next 20 years.

This year we are celebrating our 20th year of zeolite structures on the web. For more information on the history, click here.

On behalf of the whole zeolite community, we thank all the colleagues involved in the constant evolution of this indispensable tool!
   
15-Sep-16 New reports from the Natural Zeolite Commission
    Two new reports concerning the sedimentary zeolite deposits in Armenia and in Iran have been put online in the Natural Zeolite Commission website.
   
5-Aug-16 Russell Morris becomes a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in London
    Prof. R. Morris (University of St Andrews) has been elected as a FRS because of his important work in porous solids, and in particular for his revolutionary developments in synthesis, such as the ionothermal and ADOR methods, which have had significant impact across a wide range of chemistry outside his own field. Morris was also elected for his work in developing new applications of zeolites and metal-organic frameworks, particularly for the controlled delivery of therapeutic gases for medicine.
Russel Morris
   
  News from the IZC-18 in Rio de Janeiro
   
30-Jun-16 IZA Awards
    The recipients of the 2016 Breck Award are:
      Svetlana Mintova and Valentin Valtchev
of the CNRS, Laboratory of Catalysis and Spectrochemistry, Caen, France

for the understanding of the nucleation in organic-free hydrogel systems leading to rational design of industrially relevant nanosized zeolites.
Prix Breck 2016
    The new IZA Ambassador, the recipient of the 2016 IZA Award is:
      Avelino Corma
of the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ), Valencia, Spain

for outstanding achievements in the synthesis of zeolites and their application as catalysts in petrochemical processes and fine chemicals synthesis.
Ambassador 2016
    IZA Honorary Memberships were given to:
      Carmine Colella
of the University of Naples, Naples, Italy  
for contribution given to the IZA through the constitution of the Natural Zeolite Commission, the preservation of the related culture, the update of IZA history and the keeping of IZA archive

Michael Stöcker
of the SINTEF, Oslo, Norway
for co-founding the Journal "Microporous and Mesoporous Materials" and for having supported the culture of zeolite science as Editor-in-Chief of this Journal for many years.

    Congratulations!
    
   
29-Jun-16 IZA Council
    Seven new Council members were elected:
      Martin Hartmann (Germany)
Masaiko Matsukata (Japan)
Roberto Millini (Italy)
Heloise Pastore (Brazil)
Fernando Rey (Spain)
Matthias Thommes (USA)
Xiaodong Zou (Sweden)
    The new Executive Committee of the IZA Council is:
      Valentin Valtchev, President
Suk Bong Hong, Vice-President
Heloise Pastore, Secretary
Raul Lobo, Treasurer
         
28-Jun-16 International Zeolite Conference (IZC)
    At the IZA Business Meeting, the IZA membership selected the venue for the 20th IZC in 2022:
      Valencia, Spain
    The next IZC will be held in 2019 in Perth, Australia
         
16-May-16 Proposals for the organization of the 6th International MOF Meeting
    The MOF commission of the IZA would like to solicit bids to host the 6th International MOF meeting, which is scheduled to take place in 2018. The deadline for bids will be August 1st, 2016 and the decision will be made during the 5th International MOF meeting to be held in September 2016 in Long Beach California, USA. For further information on what is required for a bid please contact Russell Morris (rem1@st-andrews.ac.uk).
         
11-Apr-16 Newly Elected Academicians
    The following zeolite scientists were elected as Academicians in 2015:
      Prof. M. Tsapatsis – USA National Academy of Engineering
Prof. J. Yu – Chinese Academy of Sciences
Prof. Z. Liu – Chinese Academy of Engineering
    Congratulations from the IZA to our esteemed colleagues!
     
17-Mar-16 Jule Rabo (1924-2016)
   

It is with great sadness that we must report that Jule Rabo, one of the pioneers of zeolite science, passed away on March 1, 2016.

Dr. Rabo, one of UOP's leading scientists, has a long list of accomplishments, but he is best known for his discovery of the acidic forms of zeolite Y and and for applying them to petroleum catalysis. The catalysts he discovered have formed the basis for the production of motor fuels for almost 60 years. He was a Senior Research Fellow at Union Carbide, later UOP, and continued to consult for the company for many years after his retirement in 1990.

He earned wide recognition for his discoveries, and received numerous awards, including, in 1993, the Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists for pioneering discoveries in zeolite catalysis. He was a generous teacher who shared his knowledge enthusiastically with colleagues and students during his career. He lectured widely on catalysis and surface chemistry at national and international conferences, at universities, catalysis societies and industrial research centers all over the world. He earned more than 60 U.S. patents and authored several dozen articles, studies and books. The zeolite community will continue to enjoy this legacy for many years to come.

 
 

 

Links to the IZA Commission Websites

last updated: 15-August-17