Bentonite By Essel Minerals Industries

Bentonite BENTONITE is an important naturally occurring clay of great commercial importance possessing inherent bleaching properties. It is regarded to have been formed by the alteration of volcanic ash deposits, mostly in upper Cretaceous formations and is known as "Bleaching Clay" also due to its high swelling property. The difference in bentonite and other clays lies in lattice structure. The sheet of atoms in bentonite are much thinner and more easily separable in water. That is why bentonite occupies more surface area than other clays. This property is known as dispersibility, which is unique to swelling type of bentonite. Properties Two types of bentonite are generally identified. One is called the swelling type or sodium bentonite, which has single water layer particles containing Na+ as the exchangeable ion. The other has double water layer particles with Ca++ as the exchangeable ion. It is called calcium bentonite or non-swelling type. The swelling type bentonite when dispersed in water, separates into suspendible flakes which are all finer than 0.5 micron. Calcium bentonite yields about 35% finer than 0.5 micron. Analysis Reports of Bentonite Sodium Based Silica 50% Alumina 20% Oxide of Iron 10% Titanium 1% Manganese 0.04% Lime 0.68% Magnesia 1.80% Soda + Potash 2.70% Molecular Water 14% Swelling Index (2g sprinkled in 20 parts in 100cc water) 32 - 35 ml pH Value 9.5 - 11 Liquid Limit > 400% Sand Content < 2% Following grades of Bentonite is available API Sec 13A Grade (For Drilling)Construction (Piling) GradeRefractory GradeFoundry GradeCat Litter GradePaints GradePaper GradeRoasted & Double Roasted Granules(For Fertiliser)Non- Roasted GranulesActivated Bentonite GranulesActivated Bleaching Clay (Bleaching Earth)