Bentonite is the most developed and utilized mineral in non-metallic minerals. It is now widely used in oil mining, directional traversing, iron and steel casting, metallurgical pellets, chemical coatings, compound fertilizers, slurry, rubber, plastics, papermaking, water purification, moisture absorbers, pesticides and other fields.

1, Drilling project

Presently, bentonite as a drilling mud material accounts for the entire bentonite industry’s dosage of about 18%.

The practice has shown that low-grade calcium-based bentonite slurry performance is inferior to sodium-based bentonite, and thus, the domestic use of bentonite slurry before the artificial sodium treatment while choosing the appropriate synergist as well as the appropriate dosage and reasonably enhancing the content of bentonite montmorillonite, to enhance the slurry performance of the purpose.

2, Wastewater treatment

Powdered bentonite, due to its large specific surface area, excellent adsorption properties, and ion exchange properties, has become a high-quality mineral material for wastewater treatment. Theoretically, powdered bentonite should have a better adsorption effect. However, due to its water-absorbing expansion adhesion, the powdered soil’s sticky agglomeration significantly reduces the adsorption effect while generating secondary sludge.

In practical applications, the powdered bentonite made of specific shapes to facilitate recycling and utilization: with the help of sodium alginate and calcium chloride solution crosslinking effect prepared into a ball; with the help of extrusion equipment equipped into a strip, with the help of 3D printing technology, bentonite as a printing material, made of honeycomb adsorbent bricks, etc., and should also ensure that the strength of the formed soil to transport and application.

3, Metallurgical engineering

Bentonite has a good dispersion of suspension and adhesion and is widely used in blast furnace ironmaking raw materials – the production of pelletized ore.

Bentonite used as a binder for pellet ore can optimize the performance of the ball and the adhesion between the raw ball particles, accelerate the formation of the pellet, grow and store water inside the pellet, and significantly improve the falling strength of the basic ball, compressive strength, bursting temperature and compressive strength of the dry ball, but at the same time also introduces a large number of Si and Al and other impurities, reducing the grade of the pellet ore, and therefore the use of high-quality and efficient metallurgical engineering Therefore, the use of high quality and high-efficiency bentonite in metallurgical engineering and the reduction of bentonite dosage is the key to the production of high quality pelletized ore.

4, Building materials

Bentonite can absorb many times its weight of water, thus volume expansion for the original volume of several times or even dozens of times, and drink water to a certain extent after the bentonite equivalent to a colloid, with the performance of the exclusion of water, the use of this feature, bentonite can be used for waterproof materials.

Typical examples are bentonite waterproof blankets, lightweight wall materials, impregnated coating, and landfill barrier materials.

5, Agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry

As a soil conditioner, Bentonite is put into agriculture and forestry use; bentonite can reduce agricultural fertilizer washed out by the water, improve the storage capacity of agrarian fertilizer water, improve the soil, and improve crop yields. When bentonite and fertilizer are for mixed-use, bentonite also prolongs the usefulness of fertilizer.

Bentonite for animal, as a feed additive, is put into the livestock industry to use and can slow down the passage of feed in the gastrointestinal speed to promote the complete digestion of livestock and poultry feed to achieve the highest rate of nutritional intake.

6, Medicine and food processing industry

Bentonite has good water absorption, suspension, dispersion, adhesion, and thixotropy and is used in the pharmaceutical industry as a preparation auxiliary material and pharmaceutical carrier. Bentonite has a double function of adsorption and bacteriostatic or bactericidal. It is clinically used to treat diarrhoea and peptic ulcer medicines; it can be effectively thickened in some ointments or paste-like agents to add bentonite. Because bentonite has good adsorption and is often used as a carrier for pharmaceuticals, pharmaceuticals play a role in the body for a long time and are stable. In short, the value of bentonite in medicine has great potential.

Bentonite has good adsorption and ion exchange and is widely used in the food industry. In the refining of animal and vegetable oils, acidification of bentonite adsorption ability to enhance the effective removal of impurities in animal and vegetable oils, as well as decolourization; in the brewing process of wine and other bentonite can play a brewing process clarification and stabilization of the treatment; bentonite for daily condiments (vinegar, monosodium glutamate, soy sauce, etc.) in the processing and refining can be effective in addition to impurities or clarification, and even improve the nutritional value of condiments.

China’s rich bentonite resources are used they haveious fields because they have many excellent properties. Still, the performance of bentonite in different regions varies greatly, resulting in the processing and application of bentonite differences. At present, China’s bentonite manufacturing and processing enterprises generally have a small scale; technology is relatively backward, product quality is not stable, low resource utilization, etc., to further study the application of new ways of bentonite and processing of new technologies, for the development of high-end bentonite products, giving bentonite new value, it is particularly urgent and essential.