Process and production

Bentonite can be processed in several ways to optimize properties for the individual uses. Clariant's Adsorbents business operates 28 production sites that turn the raw bentonite clay into consistent quality products for a variety of our customers’ applications. The challenge is always to convert a natural product with natural fluctuations of composition and quality into a final product with consistent performance – a challenge that we master day-in day-out for more than 100 years now.

Acid activation is performed to considerably increase the surface area of the bentonite and create additional acidic reaction sites. This treatment is useful for applications like edible oil refinement and purification of mineral oils and biofuel feedstock.

Alkaline activation is performed to modify the viscosity and rheology of bentonite slurries. This treatment is useful of applications like foundry sand binders, civil engineering, paper, detergents, and many more.

Some bentonite grades are naturally active and fit for their respective application. In any case, all grades, whether activated or not, need to be dried, milled and classified to specification and pass rigorous quality checks prior to release to customers.