Please can i get a detailed and comprehensive report on how Bentonite is processed for use in the oil industry

Question

Something like beneficiation Process for Bentonite

Answer 1

Bentonite is a mineral that is mined in various parts of the world. It is a natural mineral, so its composition is highly variable, although it is by definition the mineral sodium montmorillonite.

The process of beneficiation typically involves milling it to the correct surface area and consistency, removing less desirable contaminates by leaching it, controlling the cation content so that it is more wettable, and sometimes even treating it with a surfactant so that it is easily wetted.

Its degree of hydration and "yield" is a function of all of these factors, especially the predominant cation nature of the bentonite. If the cation is predominantly sodium, it will probably hydrate more completely and rapidly. If its cation content is more calcium and magnesium, it will yield slower and less completely.

The process of yielding involves breaking the bentonite platelets up into the smallest pieces. This adsorbs water onto the surface of the particle (the particles don't actually dissolve, but its cations do), so this yields a colloidial mixture, or a solid phase mixed in a liquid phase.

I use non-beneficiated bentonite everyday in my work. I'm an oil-well cement chemist. Beneficiated bentonite is typically used for oil-well drilling mud.

Answer 2

Try Chemdex.