Patent ID: 8361513

Claim:
A method for preparing antimicrobial zeolite whose ion-exchangeable ions are partially or wholly replaced with hydrogen ions and silver ions, which comprises the steps of: bringing a raw zeolite material into contact with a mixed solution containing (i) hydrogen ion-generating ions selected from the group consisting of ammonium ions, hydroxyl ammonium ions and alkyl ammonium ions, (ii) silver ions, and (iii) optional other antimicrobial metal ions to exchange ion-exchangeable ions present in the zeolite with said hydrogen ion-generating ions, silver ions, and optional other antimicrobial metal ions; and heating the resulting product to a temperature ranging from 200 to 600° C. for a time ranging from 1 to 24 hours to convert the hydrogen-ion generating ions into hydrogen ions to produce a zeolite product comprising 0.05 to 0.40% by mass hydrogen, 0.1 to 5% by mass silver ions, and optional other antimicrobial metal ions.