Title: Advanced microscopic analysis of a Sri Lankan anthill clay variety for the investigation of industrially demanded characteristics

Abstract

Anthill clay is some sort of specific clay variety among other common clay types because of the mode of available in the Environment while obtaining some extraordinary characteristics when comparing with some other well-known clay varieties. According to the most outstanding research outcomes that related with the clays, there were discovered some advanced characteristics of some different anthill clay verities which are useful in the advanced industrial uses such as the refractory materials, adsorbents, catalytic activities and more advanced chemical processes. Sri Lanka is a country which is much rich in natural clay deposits. In the existing research there were expected to microscopically characterize a selected anthill clay variety for the sake of advanced industrial uses. The clay samples were collected nearby a known range of anthills from a specific region around Matale area. The dry powdered anthill clay samples were characterized using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The captured Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) images showed that the presence of kaolinite, illite, muscovite and montmorillonite as the major clay minerals in this anthill clay type with the silt coated conditions. When considering about the montmorillonite which is an important component of bentonite clay, it has been identified as a multi-purpose material in the manufacturing of cost effective eco-friendly fruit and vegetable containers, environmental pollution control material because of the adsorption capacity against some anions, cations, heavy metals and some toxic compounds that dissolved in water and air and also in the pharmaceutical and medical applications because of the adsorption capacity for some toxic and harmful substances while having less harmful conditions for the human skin. Therefore, this anthill clay variety can be further developed for some advanced industrial applications while identifying some extraordinary characteristics.

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