Degritting of gluaconite clay by different techniques for use in water treatment and as fertiliser

Abstract

Glauconite has been a concern for different fields ranging from agriculture to heavy metal removal and wastewater treatment. For each application, glauconite must fulfill certain specifications. The most important parameter, acting as the controlling factor, in almost all the relevant industries, is particle size. Therefore, in the present work, several techniques were used to obtain suitable particle size distribution of glauconite in order to meet the standard specification for water treatment and for fertiliser. Dry crushing of glauconite ore, soaking in water for different period with or without stirring, attrition scrubbing in the absence and presence of pebbles, and wet grinding were conducted to achieve that goal. In each step, the glauconite was wet screened, separated into fractions, analysed and evaluated for water treatment or as a fertiliser. Results showed that the glauconite granules suitable for fertiliser use and for water treatment, in comparison with the standards given for each purpose, were obtained using stirring, attrition scrubber in the presence and absence of pebbles and wet grinding.