Characterization of Colombian Clay and Its Potential Use as Adsorbent

Table 2

Chemical composition of the bulk and purified clay used in this study compared with literature data and previous studies.

Compound	Chemical Composition (wt%)
	Bulk clay	Purified clay	Montmorillonites [56]	Smectites [22]
SiO2	56.58	53.70	57.68	57.84
Al2O3	15.88	16.79	20.22	16.93
Fe2O3	7.51	8.33	3.17	5.84
CaO	3.43	2.50	1.20	1.46
MgO	2.24	2.46	4.22	1.51
K2O	1.73	1.45	0.44	1.36
Na2O	1.11	2.22	0.98	0.94
TiO2	0.70	0.68	0.24	0.52
MnO	0.13	0.11	1.74	0.06

: average of 40 montmorillonite samples [56].
: average of 32 smectite samples located in the north of Tolima [22].