Studying Glauconite of the Bakchar Deposit (Western Siberia) as a Prospective Sorbent for Heavy Metals

Abstract

Glauconite is one of natural clay minerals that are low-cost and readily available. Its specific char-acters, including potassium cations activity, layered structure and absorption capacity, explain thecomprehensive interest to this mineral. It is especially prospective in regard of water treatment.Glauconite composition depends on the formation conditions, which lead to different sorptionproperties. Here we studied the sorption parameters and physical characteristic of unique glaucon-ite of the Bakchar deposit by mean of granulometric analysis, electromagnetic separation, X-rayfluorescence analysis, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy, petrographic studies, scan-ning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, nitrogen thermal desorption method, inversionvoltammetry. Finally, we tested this mineral as a sorbent. The studied glauconitic concentrate hasthe best comparative sorption properties. Results show that glauconite of the Bakchar deposit is acheap and prospective sorbent for heavy metals.