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Clay & Business

MORE THAN JUST A COMMODITY

Kaolin, it's name derived from the Chinese village of Kao-Ling, has a long history of human use. From the porcelain that earned it the name "China clay" to more modern uses in paper coatings and medicines, numerous industries have leveraged its myriad properties.

While paper coatings continue to dominate the contemporary kaolin industry, they barely scratch the surface of kaolin's potential. With deeper scientific understandings brought about by improved electron microscopy and nanotechnology over the past century, an array of fascinating applications present themselves for earth's most abundant clay.

Materials for the 21st Century


High-strength materials that nature makes at room temperature.
 

What if modern building materials didn't require producing temperatures of 1400oC, along with the resultant carbon footprint? What if a substance already known to be safe to the human body could have radically new applications in a range of emerging technologies?

As scientists struggle to re-create the lightweight-yet-resilient calcium carbonate found in seashells, kaolin presents an alternate path in mirroring nature's ingenuity. New distillation techniques allow for the selection of properly-sized kaolin platelets that emulate these structures, paving the way for further research into a natural, fire-resistant building materials with potential uses in 3D printing and beyond.

Further afield, recent attempts to improve emergency medical response have also found their answers in kaolin. Rich in blood-clotting aluminosilicate nanoparticles, the addition of this clay to gauze has greatly increased its ability to halt blood loss even when pressure is hard to apply, saving countless lives on the battlefield and in emergency rooms around the world. 

With an unprecedented insight into the nano-structures of kaolin, we've only just begun to tap into its capabilities. This natural, abundant mineral has applicability in a range of fields, and with further research into its "materials DNA", it has the potential to form the building blocks of many future advances. 

BACTERIAL INTERACTIONS

The complex surface chemistries of the 3 distinct faces enable the attachment to bacteria and disrupts their formation of biofilms and makes them less virulent. Ben Beck at the USDA Auburn, AL., Aquaculture lab Has shown that kaolinite can reduce the mortality of catfish by sticking to Columnare bacteria.