DETERMINATION OF LAYER CHARGE OF SMECTITES IN BENTONITES: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE K-SATURATION METHOD

摘要

Characterization of smectite layer charge is of economic and geologic importance, because layer charge strongly affects key smectite properties such as swelling, cation exchange capacity, and ion exchange selectivity. These properties are important for the various applications of bentonites. Smectites usually are structurally and compositionally heterogeneous, and this is reflected in the layer charge. We have proposed a method for determination of layer charge of smectites (Christidis & Eberl, 2003).