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Foundry · Construction · Ceramics

Processed Bentonite

Milled bentonite chosen for swelling, gelling, and a bond that holds from lot to lot.

Request a quoteAl2O3·4SiO2·H2O
Fine processed bentonite powder

The grade

Processed bentonite is the swelling clay a plant reorders when the last lot has to behave like the next one. Foundries use it to bond silica sand. Civil and drilling work use it so a borehole or a slurry holds. Ceramic plants use a small addition so a body or a glaze stays in suspension. Paint lines use it when the coating has to keep its body.

That is a different purchase from kaolin or from a fire clay. Those clays are chosen for whiteness or for alumina. Bentonite is chosen because it swells and gels. A sodium grade, or a calcium clay activated toward that behaviour, is the usual export powder. The two are not interchangeable just because both are called bentonite.

Skylark Exports supplies the processed powder: dried, milled, and specified against the mesh and the swelling your line already runs. The 24 ml/2g swelling note is a typical floor for a sodium grade, not a certificate of analysis and not a promise that every inquiry is that grade. Name the use, the mesh, and whether you need sodium or calcium behaviour, and compare the current sheet before a production trial.

What buyers check

  • Swelling and gel strength held so a mud, a bond, or a suspension repeats
  • Milled to the mesh the plant already runs
  • Dried and ground, so the bag is a powder and not a raw pit clay
  • Moisture low enough that the grade stays workable in store

Applications

  • Foundry

    Foundries buy graded silica for moulds and cores, processed bentonite to bond that sand, and refractory clay where the hot face has to hold.

  • Construction

    Construction uses graded silica sand where grain size and cleanliness matter, and processed bentonite where a borehole or a seal has to hold.

  • Ceramics and tile

    Tile, sanitaryware, and tableware plants use clay, feldspar, silica, and quartz so the body stays plastic and the fire stays predictable.

  • Paints and coatings

    Coatings use ground quartz, kaolin, and calcined kaolin for mesh, brightness, and opacity, and processed bentonite when the paint has to hold its body.

Packing

  • 25 kg bags, typical export packing, still to confirm
  • 50 kg bags, typical export packing, still to confirm
  • 1 MT jumbo bags, typical export packing, still to confirm

Questions buyers ask

What is processed bentonite?

It is bentonite that has been dried and milled, and often sodium-activated, so the powder swells and gels in a repeatable way. You are buying that processed behaviour, not a claim that every pit clay will do the same job straight from the ground.

Is this a sodium grade or a calcium grade?

Export powder for drilling mud, foundry bond, and most suspensions is typically a sodium grade, or a calcium clay that has been activated toward sodium behaviour. Say which one your process was qualified on. This page does not treat the two as the same lot.

How is this different from kaolin?

Kaolin is chosen for whiteness and, in a body, plasticity without much swell. Processed bentonite is chosen because it swells, gels, and bonds. A coating line that needs shade should not substitute bentonite for china clay, and a foundry that needs a sand bond should not substitute kaolin for bentonite.

How is processed bentonite packed?

Typical export packing is 25 kg bags, 50 kg bags, or 1 MT jumbo bags. The packing Skylark offers is still to be confirmed. Name packing, quantity, mesh, and destination port when you ask for a quote.