35 † Corresponding author © 2016 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EGYPTIAN CLAY AS A LOW-COST ADSORBENT Nabila Shehata 1† --- Mohammad S. El-Geundi 2 --- Eman A. Ashour 3 --- Reda M. A. Abobeah 4 1 Dep., of Environmental Science and industrial development, Faculty of Postgraduate studies for advanced sciences, Beni-Suef University, Egypt. 2,3,4 Chemical Engineering Department, Minia University, Minia, Egypt ABSTRACT A study of the characteristics of clay from El-Sheikh Fadl Village, El-Minia governorate in Egypt has been carried out. A crucial factor in the applying clay as a low-cost adsorbent, however, is the understanding of the physical, chemical, mineralogical, and colloidal properties of these clays. The characteristics of texture such as surface area, pore volume, porosity, pore size distribution, particle shape and density were determined. The pore size distribution results showed that natural clay is predominantly mesoporous. The thermal behavior of clay was studied using differential thermal analysis and thermogravimetric analysis analysis. The X-Ray diffraction analysis was performed in order to determine the main constituents of the materials. The X-Ray diffraction analysis verified the presence of kaolinite, montmorillonite and quartz in the natural clay. Then clay was tested for infrared spectra, it confirm the presence of the constituents mentioned above. The structure and chemical composition, exchangeable ion type and small crystal size of montmorillonite are responsible for several properties, including a large chemically active surface area. Keywords: Egyptian clay, Low-cost adsorbent, Surface chemistry, Mineralogical analysis, Characterization. Received: 8 September 2016/ Revised: 28 September 2016/ Accepted: 18 October 2016/ Published: 2 November 2016 Contribution/ Originality The paper's primary contribution is finding that the structure, chemical composition and exchangeable ion type of montmorillonite are responsible for several properties, including a large chemically active surface area. and low- cost adsorbents might be a suitable local alternative for elimination of heavy metal ions and basic dyestuffs from aqueous solutions 1. INTRODUCTION Clays may be considered of the most distributed elements in the earth crust. Clay are composed of the octahedral (Al 3+ , Fe 2+ , Fe 3+ , or Mg 2+ ) and tetrahedral (Si 4+ ) structures depending on the type of clay [1]. There are several classes of clays such as smectites (montmorillonite, saponite), mica (illite), kaolinite, serpentine, pylophyllite (talc), vermiculite and sepiolite [2]. Clays are composed by hydrous aluminum, silica, magnesium and iron, it may also contain calcium, potassium and other ions, which are non-clay minerals. Both clay and non-clay minerals influence the properties of a clay materials. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in utilizing clay minerals such as bentonite, kaolinite, diatomite and Fuller's earth for their capacity to adsorb not only inorganic but also organic molecules. In particular, interactions between dyes and clay particles have been extensively studied [3- International Journal of Chemical and Process Engineering Research 2016 Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 35-45 ISSN(e): 2313-0776 ISSN(p): 2313-2558 DOI: 10.18488/journal.65/2016.3.2/65.2.35.45 © 2016 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved.