Chemistry:List of countries by bentonite production

From HandWiki
Short description: none

Bentonite is an absorbent aluminium phyllosilicate generally impure clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite. There are a few types of bentonites and their names depend on the dominant elements, such as potassium, sodium, calcium, and aluminium. As noted in several places in the geologic literature, there are some nomenclatorial problems with the classification of bentonite clays.

Bentonite usually forms from weathering of volcanic ash, most often in the presence of water. However, the term bentonite, as well as a similar clay called tonstein, have been used for clay beds of uncertain origin. For industrial purposes, two main classes of bentonite exist: sodium bentonite and calcium bentonite.

In stratigraphy and tephrochronology, completely devitrified (weathered volcanic glass) ash-fall beds are commonly referred to as K-bentonites when the dominant clay species is illite. Other common clay species, and sometimes dominant, are montmorillonite and kaolinite. Kaolinite dominated clays are commonly referred to as tonsteins and are typically associated with coal.

List of producing countries

This is a list of countries by bentonite production (tonnes) in 2006 mostly based on British Geological Survey accessed in June 2008.

* indicates "Natural resources of COUNTRY or TERRITORY" links.

Bentonite production (tonnes) per country in 2006
Country (or area) Production
 World 14,600,000
 United States 4,620,000
 China 3,200,000
 Greece 1,100,000
 India [1] 1,081,000
 Turkey 600,000
 Russia 500,000
 Italy 470,000
 Mexico 435,273
 Brazil 419,214
 Germany 363,998
 Argentina 256,165
 Czech Republic 220,000
 Iran 186,323
 Spain 160,000
 Cyprus 150,620
 Australia 135,000
 Bulgaria 134,500
 Slovakia 95,700
 Poland 93,880
 South Korea 61,137
 Azerbaijan 40,600
 South Africa 32,878
 Algeria 27,110
 Ukraine 25,000
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 24,050
 North Macedonia 20,353
 Romania 20,229
 Pakistan 20,000
 Vietnam 20,000
 Denmark 19,011
 Croatia 16,410
 Uzbekistan 15,000
 Peru 14,590
 Colombia 8,500
 Hungary 6,635
 Egypt 6,300
 Nicaragua 6,300
 Indonesia 5,000
 Georgia 4,487
 Philippines 3,600
 New Zealand 3,028
 Thailand 1,200
 Burma 800
 Armenia 720
 Mozambique 610

References

External links