BENTONITE CLAY: MINERAL OF 1000 USES
By: Jum’an
You may be surprised! All Abrahamic religions Judaism,
Christianity and Islam suggest in their scriptures that man was originally
created from clay. Other mythologies including Greek, Egyptian, Inca, American
Indian and Chinese mythology tell about the same creation. If the whole worlds
mention the same single subject, there must be something very exceptional about
this breed of mineral. The
Daily Mail of UK wrote: Scientists believe that people may have had their
beginnings in clay. According to the latest theory, clay acts as a breeding
laboratory for tiny molecules and chemicals which it 'absorbs like a sponge'.
The process takes billions of years, during which the chemicals react to each
other to form proteins, DNA and, eventually, living cells.
Bentonite for Drilling Fluids
The name Bentonite refers to a high water swelling clay
first identified in Fort Benton, Wyoming where the best quality and most
abundant sediments can be found. Bentonite clay formed by the alternation of
volcanic ash for tens of millions of years during the late Cretaceous period. It
is composed essentially of montmorillonite, also known as hydrous silicate of
alumina. Long story short, the best bentonies is
the sodium type or sodium montmorillonites. It has unique characteristics. It
can swell up to 16 times its original size and absorbs up to 10 times its own
weight in water. Its colloidal solution in water has a thyrotrophic or
shear thinning property; semisolid (gel) when still and becoming fluid when
stirred. These special properties of bentonite make it a valuable material for
a wide range of uses and applications. Including as absorbents, cosmetics
and pharmaceuticals,
in drilling fluids, foundry (metal casting), civil construction, ,
pelletizing of iron ore and animal food, cat litter, detoxification,
and many other industrial and consumer related products.
Slurry Trench
Bentonite is an essential ingredient of drilling fluids for
oil, gas, geothermal and water well drilling. Its roles are mainly to seal the
borehole walls, to remove drill cuttings and to lubricate the drill bit. In
civil construction, bentonite is used to build slurry walls (slurry trench),
waterproofing of underground walls and forming other impermeable barriers for
example to plug old wells or as a base liner of landfills to prevent migration
of contaminated water into the soil, to stop dam leakage etc. Bentonite is used
as a sealant, such as to seal of undergound disposal of nuclear wastes and to isolate
metal pollutants of groundwater. In foundry (metal casting) industry, bentonite
is used as a bonding agent in the molding sand for the production of iron and steel.
The unique properties of bentonite provide green sand moulds with good thermal
stability and compactibility for the production of high quality castings. Bentonite
is also used as a binding agent in the production of iron ore pellets. Iron ore
fines are converted into spherical pellets, suitable as feed material in blast
furnaces for pig iron production. Animal foods and fertilizer are pelletized
using bentonite as well. So it makes sense why Holy Scriptures, mythologies and
scientists agree that human was created from clay.
Foundry ( Metal Casting)
