Instrumental Analyses of Zeolitic Bentonites

This study mainly aims at investigating the instrumemtal analyses of the zeolites of three commercial bentonites namely S1-RAW, S2-RAW, and S4-RAW from Semnan Province, Iran. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM),Thermal analysis (TGA-DSC), Fourier-transform infra-red (FTIR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) , X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), and CHNS were used for the characterization of the samples. SEM showed the presence of zeolitic materials accompanied with thin flakes and very fine particles having nano-structure and nano-pore Montmorillonite which is the dominant clay mineral constituent of bentonite. Before other instrumental analysis, it was necessary to determine the organic content of clay through CHNS ( Carbon, Hydrogen,Nitrogen and Sulfure )test. XRPD spectrum showed the presence of the heulandite group type of zeolitic materials and XRF analysis showed a large amount of alumina and silicate content of each sample.The exact clinoptilolite (clino) member was determined by complementary TGADSC analysis. Water content of each sample was investigated by FTIR.