Progress in research and application of sepiolite and denaturalized sepiolite in water pollution control

Sepiolite, a natural silicate clay mineral with adsorption activity, is a kind of adsorbent with low cost, high efficiency and good regenerative power in water pollution control.Its effects on the treatment of organic pollutants and inorganic pollutants are introduced in this paper.The former includes organic dyes, oily wastewater, aquaculture wastewater, aluminum cutting fluid wastewater, landfill leachate, humic acid, ammonia nitrogen, microcystis, fructose, bisphenol A, acetone, toluene, chlorobenzene, hexachlorobutadiene, styrene, naphthalene, phenanthrene, decabromodiphenyl ether, chloridazon, mefenacet, organophosphorus and atrazine, and the latter involvs heavy metal, harmful nonmetal elements, nitrates, fluoride-containing wastewater, radionuclide.The results show that the natural sepiolite' s adsorption of certain pollutants is quite weak, but if it is denaturalized by either physical or chemical method, its adsorption power can be greatly enhanced.On this basis, the existing problems of sepiolite used as an adsorbent for environmental protection are summarized, and its future research directions are also pointed out.