Brief Study of Clay as an Adsorbent of Metals in Aqueous Medium

Dr. Dipa Dey

Abstract: Heavy metals are discharged into water from various industries. They are found to be toxic to human and aquatic animals even at low concentration and the removal of heavy metals from wastewater is a serious problem. So clay is used as an adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater because of its low cost, availability and eco - friendly nature by using different methods. Intercalation and pillaring of clay minerals are chemical processes through which modification could be achieved and also, activation, structural transformation and disruption of clays could be achieved by thermal treatment. In the present study adsorption properties of calcined clay minerals are discussed in comparison with their raw clay.

Keywords: Heavy metals, wastewater treatment, clay adsorbent, calcined clay, adsorption properties