Studies of physicochemical characteristics of organoclay with carboxydecyltriethylammonium chloride ion

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study used the soil representative of Taitung in Taiwan, Santai (St) series soil, as the catalyst carrier and exchanged arboxydecyltriethylammonium chloride (CDTEA) onto it through ion exchange, forming nano-level St-CDTEA organoclay via surface modification and high-temperature sintering. The physical and chemical properties of the St-CDTEA organoclay were then studied via a series of physical and chemical experiments.First, an analysis of the basic properties of St series soil shows that it does not have a high organic matter content because it is affected by either rainfall erosion or intensive farming, which causes a decrease in organic matter after it is consumed or lost. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis suggests that compared with the unmodified St series soil, C-H bonds are found between 2900 cm-1 and 2850 cm-1 and COOH bond around 1750 cm-1 in St-CDTEA organoclay. A field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) analysis shows the formation of a crystal structure on the surface of the St-CDTEA organoclay because St series soil contains a larger amount of smectite and the structure of the St-CDTEA organoclay absorbs a significant amount of CDTEA molecules (the molecular structure of CDTEA contains three ethyls) after high-temperature sintering.