Comparative Acid Leaching Study of Mongolian Muscovite and Montmorillonite Clay Minerals

Abstract

Acid activation is the most commonly used method to enhance the chemical and physical properties of clay minerals. Porous structure formation behavior depends on the crystal structure of clay minerals. Within the same structure of clay minerals, their resistance to acid also varies. Acid leaching has been used to increase the surface area of clay minerals and obtain solids with high porosity and many acidic sites. This paper is focused on the results of acid leaching of Mongolian clay minerals (montmorillonite and muscovite). Both clay minerals belong to a group of phyllosilicates with the 2:1 crystal structure. The influence of acid concentration and leaching time on the porous properties of silica was studied. Initially, the montmorillonite was pre-treated by a simple physical purification methods. The montmorillonite and muscovite were acid leached by a 10% hydrochloric acid solution in an autoclave at 120°C for 10h. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the surface area used for characterization of the raw and leached samples. The surface area of leached montmorillonite increased up to 77% and muscovite up to 63%. Clay mineral’s swelling character and isomorphic substitution of the octahedral layer show the main influence on porous structure formation.