NATURAL CLAYS FROM MOROCCO: POTENTIALS AND APPLICATIONS
Mohammed Belghazdis, El-Kaber Hachem, ATMAN BENDOUCH
Abstract
The commercial value of a clay mineral depends first on its physicochemical and mineralogical properties. in this context numerous studies of the mineralogical, particle size, textural, physical, chemical, thermal and technological properties have been carried out to understand the minerals clay from Morocco and to enhance them for the production of new high quality materials as well as to use clays in several industrial and environmental fields. Moroccan sediments are more homogeneous and are generally used in fields of building materials, pottery, manufacture of tiles, bricks, cosmetics and health treatments. Indeed, Morocco is one of the top 20 producers and consumers of clay building materials in the world. This work aims at providing information on the different properties of the abundant clay minerals in Morocco and establishing an easily accessible database that can be used to compare between these natural resources and their possible uses, based on physico-chemical, mineralogical and thermal properties obtained by different researchers. We will focus more specifically on the study of four regions: Rabat-Sale-Kenitra, Fez-Meknes, Marrakech-Safi, Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hocema. Finally, we will show the usefulness of associating clay minerals with other organic materials in order to obtain hybrids with having new functions and performances opening the door to other potential sectors for these natural materials.