Suitability of Bentonite Clay: An Analytical Approach

Abstract

Bentonite is a type of clay with a very high proportion of clay mineral montmorillonite, resulting from the decomposition of volcanic ash. With high plasticity, Bentonite is highly water absorbent and has high shrinkage and swelling characteristics. Bentonite slurry is often used to solve problems in the construction of borings or excavating trenches in water- saturated soils. Over time, the uses of bentonite spread into more current applications including papermaking tech-nology, cut-off walls, wastewater purification and even into different aspects of nano-technology because of nano-sizes of bentonite particles. Due to its vast engineering applications, it is of highly research interest. In this present study, an analyt-ical approach has been made to find a suitable bentonite sample from three different types of bentonite samples (China, Pakistan and India) by analyzing their engineering properties and economy as well. Finally, China Bentonite sample is found to be most suitable with good engineering properties and economy than other samples.