STRATEGY FOR WATER & LAND RESOURCES IN IRAQ.

Abstract

Titanium-pillared clay was prepared by intercalation of titanium into the activated Na- montmorillonite interlayer’s and subsequent thermal activation. The synthesis was carried out using different titanium/clay (mmol/gm),glycerin/clay ratios and calcination temperatures. The pillared product was characterized using chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) Nitrogen adsorption techniques. The results revealed that a significant improvement was achieved on the pillared clay productsuch as increasing surface area, basal spacing, thermal stability and chemical properties of montmorillonite. The expansion inthe clay lattice as a result of pillaring was confirmed from the XRD study. The BET specific surface area, total porevolume and average pore diameter of the pillared clay that calcined at 500 ○ C were (110 m2/g, 0.1468 cm3/g and 5.34 nm) while for Na-montmorillonite calcined at the same temperature were (43.2 m2/g, 0.1256 cm3/g, and 11.65 nm) respectively. Therefore, these changes in montmorillonite properties lead to increase its ability to use in industrial application such as adsorptions and catalytic reactions. Hence, further study is suggested to test ability of using this product and identify its economic benefits.