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Minerals
Special Issues
Adsorption Properties and Environmental Applications of Clay Minerals
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Adsorption Properties and Environmental Applications of Clay Minerals

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Clays and Engineered Mineral Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2025) | Viewed by 5550

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Dušan Vopálka

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Nuclear Chemistry, Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Břehová 7, 115 19 Prague, Czech Republic
Interests: radioactive waste repository; transport of radioactive contaminants; engineered barriers; sorption and transport models; bentonite
Dr. Bin Mu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Clay Mineral Applied Research of Gansu Province, Center of Eco-Materials and Green Chemistry, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Interests: attapulgite; palygorskite; halloysite; mineral pigments; environmental mineral materials; resource utilization of solid wastes; antibacterial material

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Clay minerals play a fundamental role in many environmental processes, particularly in controlling the movement of various ions and molecules in soils, waters and natural and/or engineered barriers of waste storage facilities. A number of operations and applications are being facilitated by clay minerals, via either their direct use or after modification; this is with the aim of improving their environmental quality. The mineralogical, chemical and geotechnical characterization of the clay materials studied and applied needs to be carried out in order to learn which controlling processes determine the uptake of contaminants by clay materials. In order to predict the changes in the studied environmental systems over time, it is necessary to search for an adequate mathematical description of the individual identified sub-processes. Knowledge of these sub-models and their interconnectedness in global transport models make it possible to predict the flow of contaminants in the vicinity of contamination sources. Papers addressing (i) waste water treatment technologies using clay materials, (ii) theoretical aspects of the capture of significant contaminants on the surface of clay minerals, and (iii) the modeling of contaminant transport in such an environment, of which clay minerals are a significant part, are welcome. 

Dr. Dušan Vopálka
Dr. Bin Mu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • natural and modified clay materials
  • methods of instrumental characterization
  • uptake of cations and anions
  • batch and transport experiments
  • removal of pollutants from waters
  • sorption models
  • transport of contaminants in compacted clays

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 7467 KiB  
Article
Adsorption of Caffeine and Demethylated Metabolites on Na+-Exchanged Bentonite
by Débora M. B. Goldner, Luan Viana and Jorge C. Masini
Minerals 2025, 15(6), 573; https://doi.org/10.3390/min15060573 - 28 May 2025
Viewed by 262
Abstract
Clay minerals are promising candidates for caffeine removal due to their environmental friendliness and natural abundance. In this study, a commercially available bentonite was modified by Na+ exchange and characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, zeta potential [...] Read more.
Clay minerals are promising candidates for caffeine removal due to their environmental friendliness and natural abundance. In this study, a commercially available bentonite was modified by Na+ exchange and characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, zeta potential measurements, and specific surface area analysis. Caffeine adsorption was rapid, reaching equilibrium within 15 min. Adsorption isotherms for caffeine and its metabolites (theobromine, paraxanthine, and theophylline) in pure water were analyzed at 25.0 ± 0.5 °C using Langmuir and Freundlich models, both individually and in mixtures. Only caffeine exhibited favorable adsorption behavior, fitting the Langmuir equation, which allowed for the determination of a maximum adsorption capacity of 20 ± 3 mg/g, regardless of metabolite presence. The removal exceeded 85% of the caffeine from a 5.0 mg/L solution. The adsorption affinity of the studied compounds toward Na+-exchanged bentonite followed the order: caffeine >>> theobromine > paraxanthine ~ theophylline. The modified bentonite was then tested for caffeine removal from beverages and synthetic urine, achieving removal efficiencies exceeding 87%. To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the effect of major caffeine metabolites on adsorption rates across different sample matrices, such as artificial urine, cola soda, soluble coffee, energy drinks, green tea, and yerba mate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adsorption Properties and Environmental Applications of Clay Minerals)
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16 pages, 6332 KiB  
Article
Carbon Capture Efficiency of Mechanically Activated Australian Halloysite-Rich Kaolin with Varying Iron Impurities and Its Potential Reuse for Removing Dyes from Water
by Siavash Davoodi, Bhabananda Biswas and Ravi Naidu
Minerals 2025, 15(4), 399; https://doi.org/10.3390/min15040399 - 10 Apr 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 438
Abstract
Sustainable strategies are required to mitigate elevated atmospheric CO2 levels. Achieving that by adsorption, especially by using clay-based adsorbents, drew attention. These are even more promising when these adsorbents are obtained by low-cost modifications. This study evaluates the effect of ball milling [...] Read more.
Sustainable strategies are required to mitigate elevated atmospheric CO2 levels. Achieving that by adsorption, especially by using clay-based adsorbents, drew attention. These are even more promising when these adsorbents are obtained by low-cost modifications. This study evaluates the effect of ball milling on the carbon capture performance of Australian halloysite nanotube (HNT)-rich kaolin samples: one without iron impurities (Hal) and the other with iron impurities (HalFe). The iron was mainly nested within illite/mica minerals in HalFe. Samples were ball-milled for 30 and 60 min, and their CO2 sorption was assessed at various pressures and temperatures. Crystallography, electronic microscopy, and surface area and charge characterization revealed reduced length and increased width of tubular structure following ball milling, leading to higher specific surface area without compromising crystallinity. CO2 sorption of Hal increased 14% at 20 bar and 15 °C after 60 min milling, with a ~300% rise at near-atmospheric pressures. Conversely, milling negatively affected CO2 sorption of HalFe, likely due to iron/illite-mica-related damage during milling. Crystallography, infrared, and thermographic analyses revealed physisorption as the primary sorption mechanism. Since direct disposal of CO2-laden materials is against sustainability principles, these materials were tested for methylene blue removal from aqueous solutions, achieving ~83% (Hal) and ~91% (HalFe) removal efficiencies. This highlights HNTs-rich kaolin clays’ valorization potential for carbon capture and utilization (CCU). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adsorption Properties and Environmental Applications of Clay Minerals)
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11 pages, 3845 KiB  
Article
Comparative Analysis of Physico-Chemical and Potassium Sorption Properties of Sensitive Clays
by Marta Di Sante, Evelina Fratalocchi, Francesco Mazzieri, Bruno Di Buò and Tim Länsivaara
Minerals 2024, 14(12), 1273; https://doi.org/10.3390/min14121273 - 14 Dec 2024
Viewed by 1340
Abstract
The paper analyses physico-chemical and geotechnical characteristics of four Scandinavian sensitive soils formed under different environmental depositional conditions, with the main aims to contribute to the knowledge of sensitive soils and assess the potassium sorption capacity among the investigated soils, as a basic [...] Read more.
The paper analyses physico-chemical and geotechnical characteristics of four Scandinavian sensitive soils formed under different environmental depositional conditions, with the main aims to contribute to the knowledge of sensitive soils and assess the potassium sorption capacity among the investigated soils, as a basic characteristic to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment with KCl and to analyse potassium migration in such soils. The results show that, although the chemical composition of the four soils is very similar, their sensitivity is significantly different. The correlation from literature linking the specific surface, mineralogy, and plasticity in sensitive clays of Eastern Canada, was found to be qualitatively valid for the investigated Scandinavian sensitive clays, too. The highest value of the sensitivity index among the tested soils was found to be related to the lowest cation exchange capacity and to a limited amount of amorphous minerals. These characteristics contribute to explaining the highly sensitive behaviour of that soil affecting the structure formation during the deposition stage. The potassium sorption capacity has been experimentally investigated through batch tests specifically performed on the sensitive soils, as the first step to quantify the maximum sorption capacity and identify the main factors affecting it. The maximum potassium sorption capacity was always lower than that estimated by the cation exchange capacity, and it increased with the cation exchange capacity, plasticity index, and activity of the soils, as well as with the amount of phyllosilicates and amorphous minerals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adsorption Properties and Environmental Applications of Clay Minerals)
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14 pages, 4332 KiB  
Article
Impacts of Impurity Removal Chemical Pretreatment Procedures on the Composition and Adsorption Properties of Bentonites
by Tatiana Koroleva, Victoria Krupskaya, Ekaterina Tyupina, Ivan Morozov, Pavel Kozlov, Boris Pokidko, Sergey Zakusin and Tatiana Zaitseva
Minerals 2024, 14(8), 736; https://doi.org/10.3390/min14080736 - 23 Jul 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1336
Abstract
This work is based on a detailed study of samples from three industrial bentonite deposits in Russia (10th Khutor, Zyryanskoe) and Kazakhstan (Taganskoe). The samples of the listed bentonites were undergoing stage-by-stage purification from carbonates, organic matter, and non-clay iron-bearing phase procedures. The [...] Read more.
This work is based on a detailed study of samples from three industrial bentonite deposits in Russia (10th Khutor, Zyryanskoe) and Kazakhstan (Taganskoe). The samples of the listed bentonites were undergoing stage-by-stage purification from carbonates, organic matter, and non-clay iron-bearing phase procedures. The conducted research revealed changes in the composition of bentonites already at the first stage of purification, which, however, were not noted for all bentonites, as well as a change in the forms of Fe in smectite structure. The latter is probably associated with changes in cis- and trans-vacant positions. Sorption characteristics with respect to 137Cs are determined using the localization and charges in the smectite layer and the slight changes during purification, along with the specific surface area indicators. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adsorption Properties and Environmental Applications of Clay Minerals)
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23 pages, 19609 KiB  
Article
Transformation of the Geological Environment under the Influence of Liquid Radioactive Waste (Russian Experience in Studying Historical Nuclear Disposal)
by Victoria Krupskaya, Sergey Zakusin and Mikhail Chernov
Minerals 2024, 14(3), 252; https://doi.org/10.3390/min14030252 - 28 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1454
Abstract
Due to various historical events, in the Russian Federation, in addition to the radioactive waste storage facilities used in world practice, there are various nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities that require special procedures for monitoring and decommissioning. One of these facilities is the [...] Read more.
Due to various historical events, in the Russian Federation, in addition to the radioactive waste storage facilities used in world practice, there are various nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities that require special procedures for monitoring and decommissioning. One of these facilities is the disposal site for LRW on the territory of the JSC Siberian Chemical Plant, where specially prepared waste is injected into sand reservoirs lying at depths of 300–350 m between clayey strata. This study examines in detail the features of the lithological and mineral composition of reservoir sands and aquitards. The processes of environmental transformation in reservoir sands, which lead to changes in the composition and structure of rocks, were characterized. These processes manifest themselves in the form of the development of leaching zones and their “healing” with newly formed smectite, the destruction of terrigenous grains, including the development of cracks, and the growth of newly formed smectite in the pore space of reservoirs. The forms of occurrence and localization of authigenic smectite formed as a result of technogenic impact are described. It has been shown that, despite the obvious impact of highly reactive solutions accompanying liquid radioactive waste, the insulating properties of the geological environment are maintained and even improved to some extent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adsorption Properties and Environmental Applications of Clay Minerals)
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