STUDY OF THERMAL AND ACID STABILITY OF BENTONITE CLAY

Karna Wijaya (Chemistry Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta)
Ani Setyo Pratiwi (Chemistry Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta)
Sri Sudiono (Chemistry Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta)
Emi Nurahmi (Chemistry Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta)

Indonesian Journal of Chemistry
Vol 2, No 1 (2002)

The thermal and acid stability of the bentonite clays (Na- and Ca-bentonite) have been tested. The thermal stability testing has been carried out by heating 5 gram of the clays  for five hours at 200, 300 and 500 °C respectively, meanwhile acid stability testing was performed by immersing 5 gram clays into 100 mL sulphuric acid 1M, 2M and 3M for 24 hours. The tested clays, then were characterized by means of X-Ray difractometry and IR-spectroscopy methods. The characterization results showed that upon heating, both Ca- and Na-bentonites indicated same thermal stability. However, upon acid treatment, Na-bentonite was found relatively stabiler and more resistance then Ca-bentonite.