Traditional and new applications for kaolin, smectite, and palygorskite: a general overview

Abstract Clays have been and continue to be one of the more important industrial minerals. Clays and clay minerals are widely utilized in many facets of our society. They are important in geology, agriculture, construction, engineering, process industries, and environmental applications. Traditional applications are many. Some of the more important include ceramics, paper, paint, plastics, drilling fluids, foundry bondants, chemical carriers, liquid barriers, decolorization, and catalysis. Research and development activities by clay scientists in academia, government, and industry are continually resulting in new and innovative clay products Many of these new applications are the result of improved processing, which provides clays of higher purity, more precise particle size and distribution, whiter and brighter color, modified surface chemistry, and other physical and chemical modifications. Some new and improved clay products include tailored or engineered paper coating kaolins, enhanced paint thickeners, nanocomposites for plastics, pillared clays as special absorbents and catalysts, clays for liquid fertilizer suspensions, clays for absorption of animal wastes, calcined kaolins with high brightness and low abrasion, faster casting clays, and clays with a very high modulus of rupture. Improvement of mining and processing techniques will lead to the continued growth of traditional clay applications and to the development of new and innovative clay products. Value added products are the wave of the future for the traditional industrial clay minerals.