Bentonite

Bentonite is a highly colloidal clay mineral which gets its name from the place where its presence and usages were first discovered – Fort Benton, America. The multiple properties of bentonite namely hydration, swelling, water absorption, viscosity, thixotropy make it a multi-application product for diverse industries. Primarily two varieties of bentonite are available - sodium bentonite (high swelling, gelling and thermal durability) and calcium bentonite.

Bentonite clay is superior grained material, extremely soft and more or less rational when plastic or dry and retentive of water when wet. It has a powerful earthy odor when breathed upon moisture and consists essentially of hydrous alumina silicate with impurities. Bentonite now generally describes clay which consists essentially of the selective mineral montmorillonite regardless of its origin occurrence.

USES:

Bentonite has high swelling properties along with good viscosity and liquid limit. These properties are highly valued in most of the industrial applications. Sodium bentonite is well suited as a binder in the preparation of pellets, and in foundry and oil - well drilling mud. Bentonite also acts as a suspending agent in oil - well drilling fluids.