Effect of Hematitic Iron Ore and Limestone Additives on the Thermal Bloatability of Bentonitic Clay

• DOI: 10.1007/s12633-017-9668-0
• Publication Date: 2018-02-26T15:21:34Z
• Authors: A. I. M. Ismail; B. N. A. Shalaby; M. S. El-Maghraby
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology

The effect of hematitic iron ore and limestone additives on the bloatability of bentonitic clay materials received from the Al-Alamine area was studied. Four batches of both 2-5% limestone and hematitic iron ore were performed. Atterberg limits of bentonite and their additives batches were carried out to estimate the liquid limit and the plastic limit as well as the plasticity index. Chemical and mineral composition was investigated using XRF and XRD, respectively. The chemical composition of limestone shows that calcium oxide is the major oxide (54.16%) and the loss on ignition is 42.9%. The hematitic iron ore exhibits the major oxide as Fe2O3 as 58.89% with subordinate amounts of silica, alumina, CaO and SO3. Phase composition of the raw bentonitic clay is composed of montmorillonite, kaolinite and illite clay minerals, while the non-clay minerals are represented by quartz and hematite and calcite minerals. The limestone shows calcite as the monomineralic composition. It is confirmed that increase of the hematitic iron ore in the bentonitic clay leads to decrease of the bulk density and increase of the compressive strength, whereas the addition of the limestone at 2 and 5% leads to the increase in the density with decrease of the compressive strength.