THE MODIFICATION MECHANISM OF THE NATURAL MONTMORILLONITE CLAY BY THE CATION SURFACTANT
Layered aluminosilicate clays are the most promising materials for the purification of industrial wastewater from heavy metal ions. Montmorillonite is the most common and interesting for practice mineral of this group. It possesses the cation-exchange ability even in the natural form. However, there are a lot of methods, which change ion-exchange properties of the montmorillonite, transforming it from the cation-exchange sorbent to the anion-exchange sorbent. In the present study, the possible mechanisms of the ion-exchange property inversion of modified montmorillonite have been investigated. The cation surfactant Didecyldimethylammonium chloride was used as a modifier.