Organoclays are used in a wide range of industrial applications, from the petroleum to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry, reaching the waste adsorption applications and production of polymer-clay nanocomposites. This work has as aim study the influence of the amount of quaternary ammonium salts in the organophilization of bentonite clays. The used clays were characterized by chemical composition, particle size distribution and cation exchange capacity determination. The organoclays were prepared using two quaternary ammonium salts: alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (Dodigen) and cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (Cetremide). The organoclays were characterized by X-ray diffraction and IR spectroscopy. The results showed that the interlayer spacing increase with the rise in the amount of salt used for the organophilization, and that this behavior varied according to the salt and clay used, the interlayer spacing increasing behavior is linear when the Dodigen salt was used and varied according to the bentonite clay when the Cetremide salt was used.
organoclay; bentonite clay; quaternary ammonium salts; interlayer spacing
